You are on page 1of 32

 

The Ultimate Guide to C​ ontent 


Marketing​: All You Need To Know 
To Grow Your Business 
 

By Jeff Bullas 

Table of Contents 
Introduction 4 
The big questions 5 

What is content marketing? 6 

The importance of content marketing 8 

The benefits of content marketing 9 

Building your content marketing foundation 11 


Hire the right team 11 
Think about your brand’s voice 12 
Document content marketing goals 12 
Create a customer profile 13 

How to create a content marketing strategy 15 


Map out content that aligns with the buyer’s journey 15 
Brainstorm content ideas and create a content calendar 16 

What content to create (and how) 18 


Evergreen Content 18 
Written content 19 
Visual content and design 20 
Content curation 21 
User-generated content (UGC) 22 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 2 


 

Where to distribute your content 23 


Social media 23 
Email 24 
Blogging and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 25 
Other content distribution tactics 25 

How to manage your content marketing on a limited budget 27 


Tools and technology 27 

Content analysis and measuring ROI 29 


Define and track your metrics 29 

Conclusion 30 

   

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 3 


 

Introduction 
It was a paperback book that someone I trusted and respected had 
recommended. 
 
Its title was good but not ​great​. 
 
The headline wasn’t so compelling that it would stop you in your tracks. But 
something about it made me want to start reading and open the cover. 
 
Most of it was read in coffee shops near my home. I had plenty of time as I was 
between jobs. 
 
But it made a b ​ ig promise​. 
 
If you created great engaging content online then you would attract leads and 
sales. 
 
The term used to describe that was “​inbound marketing​”. 
 
New Rules of Marketing and PR - Content Marketing 101 
 
The book? 
 
“​The New Rules of Marketing and PR​”​ by 
David Meerman-Scott. 
 
As a sales and marketing professional it 
seemed to make a lot of sense. I certainly 
liked the idea of ​attracting customers 
rather than chasing them​. 
 
Over my career I had used newspaper 
advertising, radio ads, cold calling, fax 
broadcasting and even door knocking to 
grow sales.   

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 4 


 

But outbound marketing often meant that you had to pay gatekeepers to get 
your business and brand in front of an audience. 
 
The media moguls had the distribution and access to the customers that 
wanted to buy your products. 
 
But things had changed. 
 
The Internet had emerged, and websites, search engines and online 
publishing were becoming mainstream. Online stores were becoming trusted 
and normal. 
 
New tools and platforms had evolved. 
 
But the real kick-starter to make it easy to publish and get attention had gone 
from a fad to a global trend. 
 
That was the fast emerging social media networks. 
 
I was so intrigued by the discovery and its potential that I started a blog on the 
topic. It was an experiment. 
 
It was the start of a journey to see if David’s premise stacked up. 
 
Could it deliver? 

The big questions 


The passion project started and content creation commenced. 
 
But one big question was “​would my amateur articles attract an audience​?” 
 
The other burning questions? 
 
● Can you grow revenue from content creation? 
● Can you build a business around it? 
● Is this a passing fad? 
 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 5 


 

As I started publishing I also started sharing my creation with a few followers 


on Twitter. They responded. 
 
The few turned into many and then into millions of readers a year. 
 
The first big question had been answered. 
 
One year later I found an email in my inbox asking me to speak in Italy. They 
offered to pay me. Another question had a response that I liked. 
 
A few years later I left my day job and struck out on my own. The sustainable 
business question had been resolved. 
 
This had all happened around a content publishing hub that had been started 
with a $10 investment. That was a domain name. 
 
There are many other questions that I am sure you have asked while reading 
this, so for the rest of this article, I will endeavor to answer them. 
 
It is going to be pretty comprehensive; a guide to Content Marketing 101 – 
everything you need to know. 
 
I will talk about the basics of content marketing and the many ways it can help 
you grow your business. I will focus on a “​do it yourself​” approach that 
minimizes the costs and helps you understand what keeps your customers 
interested and engaged with your brand. 
 
So grab a cup of tea, make yourself comfortable, and let’s dive right in. 

What is content marketing? 


Content marketing focuses on the creation and distribution of relevant and 
valuable content, with the purpose of attracting a clearly-defined audience, 
building a long-term relationship with them and, ultimately, turning them into 
loyal customers. 
 
The keywords you need to remember are “​relevant​”, “​targeted​” and 
“​relationship​.” Simply creating content without a solid understanding of your 
audience’s needs and interests will not help you grow your business. At best, 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 6 


 

you will generate unqualified traffic; at worst, you are wasting valuable time 
and resources on creating content for the wrong audience. 
 
Done right, content marketing is the effective use of content that informs, 
educates (and sometimes entertains and inspires) customers to discover you, 
trust you and buy from you. 
 

 
 
TIP:​ I have been using an awesome tool called B
​ uzzSumo​ to help me find 
relevant, popular, and targeted content for my audience. 
 
   

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 7 


 

The great part that isn’t often appreciated is that if it is done with persistence 
and with the long game in mind, the content becomes an asset that keeps 
giving. 
 
● People will find answers (in the form of content) from your blog or 
website when performing a Google search 
● They will discover your YouTube video in a tweet or on Facebook. 
● They will register for your webinar and buy your product or service. 
 
But to be successful with content, you need a mindset of pull, not push. 
 
A vision for next year, not next week. 
 
An approach that revolves around building digital assets that accrue in value 
over time, rather than expiring digital assets that become obsolete and die 
when you turn off the advertising. 

The importance of content marketing 


One of the primary reasons content marketing works is that it focuses on 
telling stories and building narrative, rather than just bombarding prospects 
with sales messages 
 
People are more likely to engage with a brand that delivers quality, 
educational content than one that only focuses on selling its products. 
 
Purchasing decisions aren’t always, if ever, rational. It’s not facts that get 
prospects to choose a brand over another. The emotions and personal beliefs 
that come with the story are the main factors that motivate people to take 
action. Consumers usually choose the brands whose narratives reflect their 
views and embody their ideal principles of life. 
 
That’s not just a theory; there are numbers to prove it… 
 
● According to DemandMetric, content marketing costs 62% less than 
traditional advertising. 
● It also generates three times more leads. 
● Businesses that use content marketing have six times higher conversion 
rates than non-adopters, according to Aberdeen. 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 8 


 

● A Custom Content Council study found that 72% of businesses think 


content marketing is more effective than advertising in a magazine. 
● 62% claim it generates better results than advertising on TV. 
● 69% of marketers say branded content is superior to both direct mail 
and public relations. 
 
These examples are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to studies that 
prove the effectiveness of content marketing. 
 
Still not convinced? Let’s take a look at the benefits. 

The benefits of content marketing 


From a distance, the benefits of content marketing are not all that obvious or 
apparent. 
 
But here are some of the benefits I have experience personally on this journey: 
 
● Content builds a digital asset hub that attracts leads and sales. 
● It grows credibility and trust as you publish content that answers 
customer questions. 
● Quality content can establish you and your brand as a thought leader in 
your industry that spreads influence and authority. 
● It educates your prospects and clients, building loyalty that turns them 
into fans and advocates. 
 
The core of content marketing really comes down to one simple idea: t​ hought 
leadership vs. selling​. 
 
Selling is an immediate call to action, a proposition that needs to end with a 
clear decision. The customer will buy or will not buy the product or service. 
More than that, the effectiveness of a sales-centric strategy will end the 
moment you stop pouring money into it. Your pay-per-click marketing or 
Facebook ads will stop generating leads the moment your campaign ends.   

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 9 


 

Content marketing, on the other hand, is the gift that keeps on giving. A 
high-quality article can generate returns one week, one month or even one 
year after you’ve created it. That’s because quality content enables you to 
create a bond with your audience that goes beyond the simplistic purpose of 
buying and selling. 
 

 
 
Hopefully, by now you’re on the content marketing bandwagon with me… If so, 
how do you build a content strategy and make the most of this approach to 
business growth?   

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 10 


 

Building your content marketing foundation 


A common mistake people make when it comes to content marketing is that 
they jump right in without building a foundation first. Here’s what you need to 
do to ensure your strategy is going to be effective. 

Hire the right team 


Content marketing can feel a bit overwhelming, especially if it’s a new concept 
and you have no idea where to start. Getting help from others to outline and 
execute on your plan is not only smart but also encouraging. 
 
But, make sure to choose your team carefully. Talk about your brand’s identity, 
your value set, your ideal customer profile, and what you are looking to achieve 
as a business. Help them relate to a vision for your brand that inspires them to 
want to work with you. 
 
When I say “​team​”, I don’t necessarily mean you need to go out there and hire 
10 full-time staff members. If you are a small business or entrepreneur, 
consider other options you have available to you to build the skill set you are 
going to need to be successful – outsourcing to freelancers and contractors, 
for example. 
 
Here are some of the “​roles​” that you, your team, or your outsourced partner 
will need to play to execute your content marketing strategy: 
 
● Content marketing manager or project coordinator 
● Content creator or copywriter 
● Graphic designer 
● Content curator 
● Researcher 
● Community manager 
● Brand monitor 
● Influencer and partnerships manager 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 11 


 

Think about your brand’s voice 


How do you want prospects to perceive you? Do you want to be seen as a 
friendly brand or a professional business? 
 
Develop a brand voice and stick to it across all channels. Create guidelines for 
you and your team to follow in terms of brand colors, use of fonts, language 
do’s and don’ts, and other things that influence your perception of the market. 

Document content marketing goals 


Look to document content marketing goals and tie them back to your primary 
business objectives. Here are some common examples of areas you may like to 
set content marketing goals for as a starting point: 
 
● Brand awareness 
● Authority and influence 
● Social proof and case studies 
● Market research and product ideation 
● Customer research 
● Website traffic 
● Lead generation 
● Customer acquisition 
● Brand loyalty and customer retention 
● Customer referrals 
● Customer service 
● Customer onboarding   

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 12 


 

Research by Statista found that Lead Generation, Brand Awareness, and 


Engagement were the top content marketing goals for companies in North 
America: 
 

 
Source: Statista 

Create a customer profile 


A customer profile, or buyer persona, is a fictional representation of your ideal 
customer. 
 
An effective customer profile goes beyond demographic information and 
documents things like interests, hobbies, fears, hopes, and dreams – helping 
you truly understand how your customers tick.   

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 13 


 

A well-constructed customer profile will help you do everything a little bit 


better. Your content will resonate more with your audience, which will result in 
more engagement, more traffic, and inevitably more purchases. Without a 
good understanding of your ideal customer, your content marketing strategy 
is likely to fall flat. 
 
To create a buyer persona, here is a brief process to follow: 
 
1. Find a buyer persona template that suits your business and industry. 
2. Start researching your customers to fill in this template, on social media, 
search engines, and via customer surveys. 
3. Consolidate your research into at least one simple buyer persona, or 
several if you need to. 
4. Use your buyer persona to guide your content marketing activity. 
 
HubSpot has a cool online tool called ​Make My Persona​ where you can fill in a 
few key details and automatically generate a customer profile for your 
business: 
 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 14 


 

How to create a content marketing strategy 


Once you have established a strong foundation, here are the steps I 
recommend you take to create an effective content marketing strategy: 

Map out content that aligns with the buyer’s journey 


Just because “​content marketing​” is a fairly new concept, doesn’t mean that it 
doesn’t maintain many of the core aspects of an effective marketing strategy. 
 
You should still spend time getting to know your customers and 
understanding the typical process they go through before buying from you. 
 
Whether you call this a sales funnel, buyer’s journey, or something else entirely, 
at its core this concept simply captures the idea that individuals go through a 
certain rational and emotional process before they make a purchase decision. 
 
At each stage of this process, they are looking for information and guidance 
that leads them to the next step. It’s your job, as the content marketer, to 
provide relevant and helpful content at each of these important stages in their 
journey. 
 
For example, prospects at the top of the funnel have only just discovered your 
brand or realized that they have a problem. Bombarding them with sales 
messages is a surefire way to drive them away. Instead, you should provide 
educational content that answers their questions. 
 
People in the middle of the funnel are evaluating their options, trying to 
decide if a product is useful or whether they can trust the brand behind it. 
Create content at this stage that proves your expertise, such as in-depth 
articles, white papers, competitive comparisons, or eBooks. 
 
People at the bottom of the funnel have made their decision and are ready to 
buy, but oftentimes they need help making that final commitment. Provide 
them with case studies, testimonials, or tailored offers to get them started.   

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 15 


 

Below is a visual representation of this concept created by ​Bluewire Media​: 


 

 
 
Once a prospect becomes a customer, your goal should be to reinforce their 
decision to buy your offer and turn them into a raving fan of your business. 
Your job doesn’t end once they sign up, it then becomes an issue of retention 
and engagement, which content can help with too. 

Brainstorm content ideas and create a content 


calendar 
Once you have created an understanding of your customer’s typical journey 
towards a purchase, you then want to come up with content ideas that will 
satisfy each stage of that journey. 
 
Get creative, loosen up and write down all the ideas that might inspire your 
strategy. Think of the essence of what you want to broadcast to the world. 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 16 


 

Don’t hesitate to look around online for inspiration. After all, you don’t need to 
reinvent the wheel. 
 
Here are some other proven ways for coming up with content ideas: 
 
● Conduct keyword research to see what people are searching for in 
search engines. 
● Determine a list of your customers’ most common questions; before, 
during, and after a sales or customer service conversation. 
● Identify the problems and subproblems your product or service solves. 
● Create case studies. 
● Research competitors, industry influencers, and thought leaders to find 
out what their most successful content has been. 
 
When you are finished brainstorming content ideas, use an editorial calendar 
to capture these ideas and plan when you are going to publish them. 
 
Using an editorial calendar can make the difference between a content 
marketing strategy that brings results and one that falls flat. It enables you to 
prepare all of the steps beforehand and concentrate your resources on what 
counts. Plus it creates accountability for meeting deadlines. 
 
Here is a calendar view of the editorial schedule here at JeffBullas.com: 
 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 17 


 

What content to create (and how) 


What will appeal more to your customers: visual content or informative, 
in-depth articles? Do they read their emails more than they log in on 
Facebook? Would your prospects engage more with video content or text? 
 
These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself to decide which 
content types will resonate with your audience best. 
 
Let’s take a closer look at your options. 

Evergreen Content 
If you want to bring solid, steady ​traffic to your website​, then you need to focus 
on creating evergreen content. 
 
As the name suggests, evergreen content is timeless. For example, an article 
about “​What Is Content Marketing​” will always be relevant because the 
definition is unlikely to change anytime soon. On the other hand, an article 
about “​The Best Content Marketing Tips for 2018​,” is not necessarily an 
evergreen topic, as trends change and you need to monitor and update the 
techniques you’re using.   

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 18 


 

Here is an example of an evergreen piece of content in the dog space; The 


Ultimate List of Cute, Stunning, and Adventurous Dog Pictures: 
 

Written content 
Most content marketing involves some element of written content. And it 
doesn’t matter how well-researched your articles are, if prospects have a 
difficult time reading them or digesting the information, they won’t read and 
engage with your content. 
 
The main challenge is keeping the content simple, yet engaging. You also 
need to ensure that your writing style fits your brand’s personality and 
audience. You don’t need to be an expert writer, but having a strong grasp of 
the written word is certainly going to be helpful. Alternatively, you can always 
hire someone to help. 
 
One way to approach written content is to document a brand voice and 
writing guidelines, then write the articles yourself, or find a team of writers that 
can deliver content on a regular basis.   

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 19 


 

Visual content and design 


Here’s the thing: if the platform where you’re publishing your articles looks like 
it is stuck in a time warp, then your audience will leave your site without giving 
it a second thought. 
 
Make sure that your website has a clean, professional design. Keep in mind 
that online users enjoy a cohesive style that they can immediately connect 
with your brand. If your design is changing all the time, it will become 
confusing and undesirable. 
 
Also, consider how you can integrate design elements and branding into your 
content creation. Things such as on-brand visuals, company colors, and 
custom graphics are a great example of this. 
 
Research by Orbit Media found that in 2017, more bloggers were using 
multiple images in their articles than in any previous year. 
 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 20 


 

Video is another type of content that is very popular and has sky-high 
engagement rates. Using tools such as I​ nVideo​ can help you create stunning 
professional-level videos in minutes with pre-made templates to meet all your 
needs. 

Content curation 
Although creating high-quality content is a crucial component of content 
marketing, it’s not the only tactic. Content curation, or the process of 
discovering, compiling, and sharing existing content with your audience, can 
work just as well. However, make sure that the content you curate is relevant 
to your audience’s needs and expectations. 
 
TIP:​ A great tool for automatically curating content and sharing it with 
your audience on social media is ​Agora Pulse​: 
 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 21 


 

User-generated content (UGC) 


Another brilliant way to engage your customers is to let them generate the 
content themselves. 
 
GoPro is a master at user-generated content (UGC) marketing. They have built 
a community that is excited to create and share adventure videos, all while 
promoting the GoPro brand in the process. The strategy is so effective that 
people post about 6,000 GoPro videos every day. 
 
Below is a collated video created by GoPro that captures the best of their 
user-generated content from 2017: 
 

 
 
So, how can y​ ou​ use UGC? 
 
For example, you could organize a contest and encourage prospects to send 
pictures of themselves using your product. Offer something of value in return, 
such as a discount, coupon, or maybe a visit to your offices. 
 
You can apply this idea to any content and distribution channel. Although 
social media makes it incredibly easy to engage fans and persuade them to 
send user-generated content your way. 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 22 


 

Where to distribute your content 


Imagine if Forever 21, a fashion brand that targets teens and young adults, 
would air a commercial on the CNN money channel or Bloomberg, two media 
outlets that cater to business professionals in the financial sector. 
 
It wouldn’t make sense, right? 
 
The same goes for your content distribution. If you want your content 
marketing to work, then you need to choose the right distribution channels for 
your brand. 
 
Here are the most important distribution channels to consider. 

Social media 
If you’re looking for a free, fast and effective way of distributing your content to 
a broad audience, then social media holds the answer. 
 
With more than 2.6 billion users worldwide, social media is one of the best 
content distribution channels. But, unless you are a large business with a 
dedicated social media team, you need to be smart about the channels you 
choose. Pick the platforms that make the most sense to your audience and 
business needs. 
 
For example, look at user demographics to ensure that your audience is active 
on the platforms you’re using. Then, look at the type of content your audience 
prefers. For example, Instagram is all about visual content while Twitter 
focuses on delivering bite-sized information. 
 
Also, consider the type of content you plan to create. If you want to focus on 
video, for example, then Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook are the best 
options. But if you are mainly creating infographics, then maybe something 
like Pinterest would work. 
 
Check out this ​social media marketing guide​ to get an idea of how to use 
social media effectively. 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 23 


 

Email 
Don’t make the mistake of dismissing email marketing as obsolete. As one of 
the most effective strategies out there, email marketing is perfect for ​small 
businesses that must stick to a tight budget​. Even today it remains one of the 
most effective channels of communication between companies and 
consumers. 
 
If done right, email marketing can help you nurture your leads and turn them 
into loyal customers. 
 
The prospects you reach through email are already interested in your brand 
because they opted in to receive content from you. Take advantage of this to 
build and nurture a lasting relationship. 
 
The best way to leverage email in collaboration with content marketing is to 
optimize your website for capturing email addresses, using things such as 
popup forms and free downloadable resources like eBooks. 
 
You can see how I have optimized JeffBullas.com to capture emails in multiple 
places on every page: 
 

 
 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 24 


 

Once your website is optimized, use content to drive people to your website 
and entice them to sign up to your email list with these offers. Then when they 
are on your list, keep communicating with them on a regular cadence to build 
trust and credibility. 
 
TIP:​ Check out C ​ onstantContact​ if you need an email management tool 
that has great templates and is super-easy to use.  

Blogging and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 


Building your blog and integrating it with an SEO strategy is the foundation of 
a good content marketing plan. While you can publish content on third-party 
sites, a blog on your own website can bring numerous benefits to your 
business. 
 
A static website with no updates is as good as dead in the eyes of both Google 
and your audience. On the other hand, the more content you publish on your 
blog, the more frequently search engines will stop by to visit your domain. That 
can translate into increased rankings, more traffic, and ultimately more leads. 
 
With every new article Google indexes, your chances of converting prospects 
into customers increases. In fact, SEO leads have a 14.6% better close rate, 
compared with outbound leads that have just a 1.7% close rate. 
 
For a comprehensive beginner’s guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), 
check out this article​. 

Other content distribution tactics 


Syndication:​ Content syndication is the process of re-posting your blog 
content on other websites, who have an established process for doing so 
without affecting your SEO performance. 
 
Influencers:​ Building relationships with influencers and encouraging them to 
mention your content on their website is a high-impact approach to content 
distribution. To find relevant influencers, consider using a search engine such 
as B
​ uzzSumo​: 
 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 25 


 

 
 
Advertising:​ You may choose to combine the benefits of content marketing 
with the immediate impact of traditional advertising to get the best of both 
worlds. 
 
Guest Posting: T ​ here are a number of high-traffic and credible websites in 
just about any niche you can think of that accept guest author contributions. 
Consider writing for these publications to boost your brand visibility and get 
referral traffic back to your website. To find guest post opportunities you may 
like to use a service like Guest Post Tracker which has over 1,400 featured sites: 
 

 
 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 26 


 

Sponsored Content: ​Paid content on other people’s websites can be just as 
effective as the organic content you publish yourself. As long as the content is 
high-quality and relevant, it can help advance your business goals. 

How to manage your content marketing on 


a limited budget 
The time and financial resources you allocate to content marketing are not 
endless, so you need to find ways to implement these strategies without 
sending your accountant crazy and burning a hole in your back pocket. 
 
One possible solution is to simplify the content management process. Build a 
routine and stick to it. For example, Mondays are for researching new topics; 
every Tuesday you create a new article for your blog. Then, on Wednesday you 
focus on content distribution, responding to your followers, checking your 
stats, following-up on a previous content campaign, and so on. 
 
Whatever rhythm you choose, aim to document all of the little processes you 
use to deliver on this strategy. Everything from coming up with content ideas, 
to researching articles, and promoting your content can be defined in a 
sequential process. By defining this process and documenting it, you can 
improve the way you approach things over time so it saves you time. You can 
also more easily outsource parts of this process to freelancers and contractors 
without needing to hire a full-time content team. 

Tools and technology 


A big part of effectively executing on your content marketing strategy is also 
about finding the right tools and technology to automate and amplify the use 
of your time. 
 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 27 


 

 
 
Without the help of technology, you are unlikely to effectively deliver on your 
content marketing strategy. So you need to put together a suite of content 
marketing tools that will make things easier and track your efforts. 
 
Here are some to consider: 
 
● Time and task management – ​Trello 
● Social media automation – A ​ goraPulse 
● Planning and publishing content – F ​ lypChart 
● Editing and proofreading – ​Grammarly 
● Social media and influencer research – ​BuzzSumo 
● Analytics – ​Google Analytics 
● SEO Optimization – ​Yoast SEO 
● Keyword Research – K ​ WFinder 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 28 


 

Content analysis and measuring ROI 


You’ve defined your strategy, built the foundation, picked the right channels, 
and have started creating quality content for your audience. But how can you 
tell if your efforts are worth it? 
 
That’s where content analysis and measuring ROI becomes so important. 

Define and track your metrics 


Measuring the impact of your content marketing strategy is no easy task. 
 
The problem is that a lot of small business owners let vanity metrics, such as 
likes, shares, and comments derail them from their goals. 
 
Yes, getting tons of likes and traffic to an article is certainly something to be 
proud of, but that’s not the ultimate goal. You don’t want people to share your 
content and then forget about your business the next day. You want loyal 
customers that engage with your brand, buy your products and tell their 
friends about it. 
 
Let’s say your primary business goal is to double your sales by the end of the 
financial year. How does that translate into hard metrics that you can track? 
 
It may be that you track mini-goals that contribute to this master goal. 
Website traffic, that leads to email subscribers, that lead to sales calls, that 
inevitably lead to sales. Thinking about it this way will allow you to see a direct 
correlation between your content marketing and traffic building strategy, and 
the business outcomes it is generating.   

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 29 


 

You can track all of this in ​Google Analytics​ using the “​Goal​” parameters in the 
“​Admin​” area: 
 

 
 
Tracking your results will make it easier to identify certain patterns or changes 
in customer behavior. Not to mention, you will be able to adjust your strategy 
on the go rather than investing time and resources only to discover that your 
audience didn’t respond to your content as expected. 

Conclusion 
It was a book that changed my life… 
 
I had a new purpose. A new reason to get up every morning. 
 
But if there is one thing I have taken away from this whole experience, it is that 
anyone can do it​. 
 
I wasn’t a writer. But I had stories to tell, battle scars to share, and a new sense 
of vulnerability that captured an audience.   

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 30 


 

Don’t let insecurity and fear hold you back from giving this content thing a 
shake. The influence it will have on your business, those around you, and your 
personal confidence and sense of accomplishment is quite amazing. 
 
But don’t go at it blindly. Think about WHY you are doing it in the first place. 
Document your goals. Create a strategy. Measure your results. Improve when 
you can. 
 
Be the difference that your customers and audience are looking for. Add value 
to their lives and businesses. They will love you for it. 
 
BONUS:​ ​Want a tool that will help you find relevant content for your 
audience? ​Check out BuzzSumo​!   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 31 


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cover template designed by:  

 
The world’s leading presentation 
www.24slides.com 
 

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing 32 

You might also like