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A MARKETER’S
GUIDE TO
CONTENT
PROMOTION:
CONVERGING OWNED,
PAID DIGITAL & EARNED MEDIA
By Dustin Clark & Amos Haffner
TA BL E O F CONTENTS
3 INTRODUCTION
4 OWN ED MEDIA
8 PA ID DIGITAL M ED I A
12 EA RN ED MED I A
16 CONVERGED M ED I A
21 CONCLUSION
24 RESOURCES
INTRODUCTION
Marketing technology abounds like never before - from automation
platforms like HubSpot to SEO tools like AuthorityLabs. Today’s marketers
have literally hundreds of tools at their disposal, but how do you ensure
your campaigns are truly integrated when there are so many different layers?
Many of us are struggling to be heard amidst the growing din as marketers
create more and more content. The top five marketing challenges, as
reported by the Content Marketing Institute in their 2015 survey of B2B
marketers, are:
• Producing engaging content: 54%
• Producing content consistently: 50%
• Measuring content effectiveness: 49%
• Producing a variety of content: 42%
• Lack of budget: 41%
In this eBook, we’ll explore how a Converged Media approach can help you
address these common digital challenges. You’ll see how an agile, integrated mindset can help you track ROI and help you put more effort into better
performing tactics.
Specifically, you’ll learn how to:
• Make the best use of the content you control, including your blog,
website, CTAs and more
• Reach the right audience with paid tactics like PPC, paid
social and amplification
OWNED
M E D IA
• Create interest through earned publicity like news
media, industry influencers and content syndication
• Develop a holistic digital strategy that makes the most
of your owned, paid and earned efforts
Are you ready for your journey into the brave new
CO NVERGE D
M E D IA
digital world of Converged Media? Let’s begin by
exploring the subject of Owned Media.
PAID
M ED IA
EARN ED
M EDI A
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OWNED
MEDIA:
CHAPTER 1
MAKING THE MOST OF THE
CONTENT YOU CONTROL
What is Owned Media?
Owned Media is digital content you
produce and publish on your own
marketing channels. It includes your blog,
website, social media accounts, emails,
and calls-to-action (CTAs) in the form of
web banners and buttons on your website.
Therefore, Owned Media is content you
completely control.
OW N ED
M ED I A
One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a content marketer when
publishing that content masterpiece of yours is not supporting it with all the
owned resources at your fingertips. You get excited about the new eBook or
infographic, but forget to focus that excitement into action across all of your
marketing channels. Your blog, email lists, website, and social media channels
are all viable vehicles to share your content.
Let’s look at each owned channel to see how, when, and why you should
use them.
BLOG
Your blog can be the perfect vessel for promoting your larger content efforts.
Often marketers publish their infographics or white papers on their blogs.
Or write a post linking to a new resource. But a “one and done” approach isn’t
always best. Let’s break down an eBook as an example.
This approach is useful for several reasons. It allows you expand on material
within your eBook by doing extended interviews with subject matter experts,
expand on research methodologies for your data collection, focus on a particular data set or shocking statistic, and more.
Consider the focus of your eBook:
o
Is it one chapter, or several?
o
re there graphics in each chapter? In particular - are there
A
charts and graphs, or fresh data that you’re approaching for
the first time?
o
oes it have quotes from industry experts or internal
D
thought leaders?
If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions those facets
can be broken off into their own dedicated blog posts that link
back to your eBook.
By diversifying the content around your eBook you:
• Gain awareness by creating a larger digital footprint
• Boost organic website traffic by optimizing posts to include long-tail
keywords (strings or phrases of three words or more) your prospect
is hunting
• Re-engage with your existing audience through regular updates
• Help increase the return on investment of your inbound marketing
by 13x, according to HubSpot’s 2014 State of Inbound Marketing
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• Create a blog ecosystem of related content that helps support your larger
content efforts and extends your reach in organic search. This, of course,
makes it easier for both search engines, and your prospects and customers, to find your content.
EMAIL
Approximately 60% of marketers are planning to increase their email budgets
in 2015 and beyond, according to Forbes. With good reason! Email marketing
is a very effective way to promote your content in your Owned Media strategy. It can be a bit tricky deciding when you should email your database with
your latest content offerings. Typically, a new blog post isn’t reason enough
to send out an email. But larger content efforts are.
• Ask yourself - is this new content truly useful to my audience?
• Does it offer something of value to my customers?
• Does it solve a key issue related to my products or services?
• Does it offer new data about my industry or related subject matters?
If so, it can be very useful to write, design and send a compelling email to
share your content with those who have previously expressed interest in
hearing from you.
As with any content marketing effort, the more targeted the focus of the
content, the more successful the content can be. Consider the overall goals
of your content (increase lead database, re-engage users, new service offerings, sales growth) and the audience you’re targeting.
If the content is truly targeted to a subset of your entire audience, don’t be
afraid to just email that segment of your email list. In a recent report, Litmus
shared that targeted emails, sent to smaller audiences, spread virally to 90%
more recipients than generic emails sent to the masses.
Element Three client Airstream
saw success in their email
marketing efforts when they
implemented segmented lists.
An email sent to all Airstream
customers had an open rate
of 35.27% and a click through
rate of 10.14%. But, an email
sent to a product-specific segmented list had an open rate
of 56.60% and a click through
rate of 17.59%. Airstream was
most successful in their email
marketing when they implemented a specific, targeted
campaign workflow. They saw
the open rate jump yet higher to 62.79% with a click through
at 19.10%. This example proves
segmenting your email lists
and sending different messages to smaller, more targeted
groups will lead to higher open
and click rates.
Keep it simple, focused, and compelling, and your email efforts to promote
your content will be successful.
CALLS-TO-ACTION
One of the easiest ways to promote your content - and one of the easiest
tactics to forget - is using calls-to-action (CTAs) throughout your website to
promote your content. By placing links in your home page banner, side banners, blog posts and other relevant pages, you can create additional signals to
your new content.
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You’ve worked hard to create a large, long-form piece of content - so don’t
neglect it! Start by adding CTAs to the pages that most closely align or are
related to your new resource.
From there, it can be helpful to look into your web analytics, and see if there
are pages or blog posts that get a lot of web traffic, either historically or more
recently. Using these high visibility posts as locations for CTAs is a great idea,
particularly if the content is relevant. Try not to force a CTA on a page where
there is no connection - but if it makes sense to place one on a page, do it.
Also, don’t forget that CTA banners aren’t your only means of promotion
within the content on your website. You can always use text to link back to
your new content, too. Google still considers internal linking as a ranking
factor for your website and content therein - so don’t neglect these crucial
text links as a means to help users (and search engines) locate your content.
SOCIAL MEDIA
The final piece of the puzzle for Owned Media promotion is social media.
There is no harm in sharing your content with your audience through your
own social channels. Stick to best practices though. Don’t go spamming out
your new content every 5 minutes. But feel free to schedule posts and share
Get your message out
there on your social
channels. Be mindful
of your messaging:
•T
ake the time to craft
your messages
• Include images
•S
earch for relevant
hashtags
Great social messaging
is an awesome tool that
can be quite effective
in getting your new
content out to the world
and encouraging others
to share it!
it frequently alongside your other social media activities.
If your content involves external resources, such as subject matter experts,
audience influencers, or other companies that assisted with research
or creation, be sure to share it with these folks and encourage them to share
it with their audience. A simple “Thanks to @CompanyX for participating
in our 2015 research survey!” in a tweet can go a long way in helping promote
your content.
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
Owned Media is media that you completely control
Email: Make sure your emails are truly useful to
but it’s easy to forget all of the resources at your
your audience by offering something of value, solv-
fingertips. Don’t overlook tactics like blogging
ing a key issue related to your products or services,
or email marketing when it comes to sharing
or sharing new insights about your industry.
your thought leadership and promoting your
best content.
Call-to-action: Make sure your CTAs are relevant
Blog: Your blog is the perfect vehicle for promot-
a new content resource, start by adding CTAs to
ing your larger content efforts. Use it to share other
pages that most closely align with that resource.
to the content on a given page. When you create
content that you’ve created and consider breaking
down larger pieces of content into smaller blog
posts.
Social media: Take the time to craft your social
messages by doing things like searching for the
right hashtags. Also, find other ways to make your
messages more engaging like finding relevant and
interesting images.
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CHAPTER 2
PA I D
M ED I A
PAID
MEDIA:
REACH A NEW AUDIENCE WITH
YOUR ONLINE ADVERTISING
What is Paid Media?
Paid media is content that you purchase on third-party online
resources that links back to your original content on your website
or app. It can apply to third-party websites, social media channels
and even search, but the uniting factor is that all these efforts are
paid digital advertising. As a reminder, there are many forms of paid
media - outdoor advertising, event sponsorship, product placement,
athlete endorsement ... the list goes on. For the purposes of this
eBook - we are only discussing digital instances. Paid media is
content you purchase for content advertising purposes.
ADVERTORIALS
Advertorials, also known as native advertising, are commonly articles on
third-party websites bought and paid for by the subject of the article. In
other words, they are “advertisements in the form of editorial content,” as
put by Wikipedia. While “advertorial” content can also apply to radio and
television, in this instance we’re applying the term only to online content articles, videos and the like.
Advertorials are an increasingly used tactic for content marketers,
although there’s occasional debate about their use - with some claiming that
they are strictly advertisements, and not fit for content marketing. The truth
is - advertorial content can be paid editorial. That doesn’t make it any less
effective in helping you reach out to potential audiences.
Consumers can be confused by advertorial content and sponsored posts,
but marketers who offer sponsored posts have the advantage of getting
their content seen in places where others aren’t reaching - such as
Forbes.com, which has increasingly increased the editorial content on their
website through programs like AdVoice and BrandVoice.
Spending on
advertorials
is predicted
to surpass
$21 billion
by 2018.
As reported by
Business Insider
AMPLIFICATION
Amplification is the practice of using content discovery tools, such as
Outbrain and Taboola, to boost your content’s signal. They can be used to
promote infographics, paid editorials, or earned articles about your content.
You don’t always have to promote the final destination of the content,
but rather one of the online signals leading to it.
For instance, if you’ve placed an editorial or have an earned article that’s
driving traffic to your website, or traffic from that source is converting at a
particularly high rate, you could use these tools to boost the visibility of that
article. Amplification is a great tool to keep in mind when you have clearly
defined campaign goals. If website traffic is the goal, find the articles that are
driving in the most traffic, and boost them!
Sponsored posts and advertorials should be used with care, but savvy
consumers are learning that even paid editorial content has something to
offer, and many are willing to read such content to see what opinions the
company is publishing about its own offerings.
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PAID SOCIAL
Advertising in Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn is now a noted and wellknown tactic for marketers. Have you considered these social platforms not
only to advertise your products or service, but to promote your content as
well? The potential audience for paid social media ads could reach
$8 billion by 2016, and that’s just across the top eight platforms, according
to a recent eBook published by Sprinkl.
These tools also have sophisticated targeting options that give you
greater control over who will see your content. This is just one additional
advantage of having your audiences mapped up for each campaign. You can
use your demographics, interests, and the preferred social platforms of your
target audience to craft very specific social media campaigns to reach them.
“Paid social media is also a great medium for testing
variations of content pitches and campaign messaging,
CTAs, and graphics to see what resonates more with
your audience before launching your campaigns on
larger paid channels.”
MOLLY BORTER of Found Search + Marketing
As with any social media tactic, you’ll want to be sure you have a good
(read: responsive) presence on your social media channels. It’s great to
send out signals that you have awesome content for your prospects to
consume. Just don’t forget to be there when they want to engage in order
to start a conversation.
The savviest of marketers know that the big three aren’t the only options
available for advertising. Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and other social mediums
might be perfect for your audience. If your research says your audience is
there, paid social is a great way to make sure you and your content are
there, too.
Several of these platforms have performanced-based sales models - which
means you have the option to test small, adjust quickly and heavy up where
there is traction.
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PAY-PER-CLICK
Pay-per-click (PPC) is another tactic within the Paid Media corner of your
Converged Media approach. It’s long been held as an effective way to advertise online, and can be incredibly useful in capturing the attention of potential customers nearing a purchase decision. It’s also very effective in other
areas of your target audience’s buying decisions.
In fact, it might be one of the best tactics available at capturing awareness-level interest - and it’s an essential asset used alongside a good SEO
strategy to promote your content.
“By targeting keywords and search phrases with PPC, this type of lead targeting can happen before your prospect even knows your content exists. Or, you
could retarget after they’ve visited your content as a reminder to come back
for more,” says Borter.
Google did a study on the incremental clicks associated with keywords for
which sites organically rank. Fifty percent of all ad clicks were found to be
incremental, even if the site was ranked number one. This underlines the
PPC advertising
works because it
targets consumers
who are already
searching for the
goods and services
your business
provides.
important relationship between SEO and Paid Search initiatives.
Pay-per-click allows you to capture these users at the right place and the
right time. It is often the fastest and one of the most effective ways to increase traffic to your website, especially when you have fresh content.
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
Paid media is content that’s purchased for content
advertising purposes. You can use these tactics
to put your content in front of new prospects—in
some cases when they’re already searching for the
type of products or services you provide.
Advertorials: These articles that you pay to put on
third-party websites are an increasingly used tactic
by content marketers. You can also look at sponsoring posts on higher-tier sites through
programs like AdVoice or BrandVoice. These tactics
should be used with care, but they have their place
as some consumers are learning that these types of
paid opinions can be useful.
Amplification: Tools like Outbrain and Taboola can
boost your signal for content like infographics and
ebooks. This tactic can be particularly useful when
you have defined campaign goals as these tools
can help you drive more traffic from the sources
that are already sending in the most traffic.
Paid social: Social networks like Facebook, Twitter
and LinkedIn have sophisticated targeting
options that can give you greater control over who
sees your content. Find out where your buyers are
consuming content, and then target them based on
their demographics and interests.
Pay-per-click: PPC can be an extremely
effective tactic because it allows you to target consumers who are already searching for the goods
and services that your company provides. You
should use PPC in concert with your SEO strategy.
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EA RN ED
MEDIA
EARNED
MEDIA:
CHAPTER 3
BUILDING AND LEVERAGING
RELATIONSHIPS TO REACH
NEW AUDIENCES
What is Earned Media?
HubSpot defines Earned Media as “any publicity you
haven’t paid for that’s owned and created by a third
party.” This applies to both online and offline media web articles and magazines alike, but also includes
social media signals and customer reviews.
In online marketing, this earned publicity is important due to several factors,
but chief among them are:
• How Google ranks content on our websites, and
• How users interact with the web.
Google places emphasis on websites and web pages that are linked to from
other relevant, quality websites.
These inbound referral links function as a third-party vote of the quality
of your content and your website - which Google rewards accordingly. Of
course, having quality content on your website (owned media) is crucial in
attracting a good third-party link!
As a web user, your customer reads thousands of articles, and often follows
links within those articles to continue learning about the topic at hand, research a purchase consideration or service recommendation, and so on. This
kind of link is captured in your analytics programs as Referral Traffic, and
represents a great way for users to find your website when they’re looking
for topics for which your site is relevant.
Let’s now explore how different types of earned publicity can help your ideal
customer discover your content.
“When secured, earned media is exceedingly
more valuable than paid or owned because
it showcases your brand and your story in
an unbiased, third-party capacity.”
LAUREN CASCIO, Account Executive at Bohlsen Group
MEDIA OUTREACH & PUBLIC RELATIONS
In today’s rapidly-evolving media landscape, public relations is far more
complicated than the distribution of a news release when it’s time to make
a corporate announcement. You need targeted pitches; ready-to-run article
promotions; prepared talking points for interview requests, and relationship
building with traditional media outlets, bloggers, and influencers. Media Outreach is also one of the best, Google-approved ways to earn media coverage
for your content.
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“Today, reporters are often covering a variety of topics and trying to wear
many different hats at once,” Cascio says. “This means that they are only able
to cover stories that are very relevant to their subjects. Instead of focusing
only on relationship building, it’s crucial to focus on trust building approaching the right media, at the right time, with the right story that’s
on topic and on trend.”
Media outreach in any marketing strategy should be seen as the worthy
investment it is. Cascio says that placing your story with the right media
can take “days, weeks and even months” of coordination - proving you must
take a strategic approach when including Media Outreach in your content
marketing efforts.
INFLUENCER OUTREACH
The media aren’t the only target for earned media coverage. Savvy marketers
are commonly turning to experts and pundits, and their best customers, to
get the message out about their content. But just like the media, your best
influencers aren’t going to give their influence away at the drop of a hat. It
takes true relationship building and reciprocity to create a happy union of
influencer-approved and shared content.
Who are the influencers for your prospects? According to social experts at
Ogilvy, identifying these influencers means finding “those which have the
most influence over potential buyers.” Influencer marketing means orienting your activities around these influencers, rather than the target
market as a whole. It’s a proven third-party endorsement marketing tactic
that aligns your brand and content with your users and the voices of experts
they respect and trust.
The key to your success here is having great content so influencers want to
be involved with what you’re doing. Keep in mind you need to offer something in return to make these relationships work. Offering to raise the awareness of the influencer, by recognizing them as an expert and involving them
92% of consumers
trust a recommendation from someone they perceive
as similar to them,
even if they’ve
never met, more
than they trust a
recommendation
from branded
content.
in your content creation process, is a reasonable offer in exchange for them
sharing this content with their own audience.
Being intentional about your marketing strategy, and allowing the time
to build relationships and develop the right content, is crucial to this kind
according to
Digital Intelligence Today
of tactic.
“I think the most important tip here is that these tactics should not be used
in a vacuum,” Cascio says. “Often, they are complementary and need to be
conducted strategically in conjunction with each other.”
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SYNDICATION
Content syndication is another tactic that you can use to generate some
earned publicity. Syndicating your content on the web means allowing that
content to be published on another website, in exchange for receiving credit
for the original publication of the content. This can be extremely effective on
other sites that cover your industry, particularly if you’re trying to build an
online audience and community for your blog.
Press releases are often picked up and published by other media outlets, and
websites like Social Media Today, Business 2 Community and Reddit are also
sharers of syndicated content. The key, just as with Media and Influencer
Outreach tactics, is to create great content that is worthy of sharing with
others. Typically, this falls more into awareness-level content and thought
leadership, and stays away from salesy, bottom-of-the-funnel type pieces.
Syndication will be most effective when used as part of an overall strategy
(with owned and paid efforts) and can sometimes offer happy dividends for
your influencer and media outreach efforts. You’ll know you’ve hit your sweet
spot when one of your earned media efforts is picked up by additional media
outlets and shared with their audiences as well.
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
Earned Media is any third-party publicity for which
Influencer Outreach: Experts and pundits may
you haven’t paid. In online marketing, this sort of pub-
abound in your industry, but involving them in sharing
licity is important due to how Google ranks websites
your content involves relationship building and offer-
and how users interact on the web.
ing them something of value in return.
Media Outreach & Public Relations: Media outreach
Syndication: Syndicating your content online means
includes targeted media pitches, ready-to-run article
allowing it to be published on another website, in
pitches and traditional public relations. This type of
exchange for receiving credit for the original pub-
outreach involves you building trust - approaching
lication. This tactic can be effective in getting your
the right media at the right time with a story that’s on
content in front of new people, but it needs to be part
topic and on trend.
of your overall strategy.
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CHAPTER 4
CONVERGED
MEDIA
GIVE YOUR MARKETING
STRATEGY A SERIOUS BOOST.
It’s good news isn’t it?! With traditional advertising and
outreach tactics still effective and an ever-expanding digital
landscape producing new opportunities to reach customers,
you have more tactics at your fingertips than ever. This
final chapter will discuss how to use owned, paid, and
earned media tactics to publish, promote, and share your
content through a holistic converged media approach.
OWNED
MEDI A
CONVERGED
MEDI A
PAI D
MEDI A
EARNE D
M E DIA
RESEARCH
Research covers two critical areas for promotable content - research for
the content itself, and then research into creating a baseline and how you’re
going to measure your results.
• audience research to discover what questions your audience is asking
and what problems they need solved,
• media research, looking into trends, social activity, and which
publications share content similar to what you’re planning,
• any research into influencers you hope to include, and the time needed
to get their critical feedback and participation.
Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? It is. The result, though, is that you’ll
benefit from critical clues on what type of content to create and how
to achieve the goals of your campaign. If the goal of your content is to
drive more traffic to your website, you’re likely interested in SEO, earned
Every good
content
promotion
campaign
begins with
research, before
any content
is created.
media, and social. If the goal of your campaign is to increase engagement or
follower count on social media, you’ll have a different focus. Your research
will help uncover the right content and channels to use.
USEFUL AND SHAREABLE
Deciding when to promote your content and with what tactics can be quite an
ordeal. Start by asking yourself one simple question: is this content useful and
shareable? Before you kneejerk with a “Yes!” - take a moment? Is it really?
Your best content to promote isn’t too product-specific and isn’t
overly salesy. Think instead of your thought leadership pieces or any
content where you’re solving your audience’s problems (especially if you’re
doing it for free). These are great to promote! Product spec sheets, brochures
and tutorial videos are valuable too, but only to those in the final stages of
your buying process.
One last thing to keep in mind: promotable content should also be shareable.
Make it easy for users to share your content by embedding social sharing
buttons within the content. These should include general share buttons
(to share the content as a whole) and content-specific share buttons (like pull
quotes for Twitter, or charts/images for Pinterest).
BUDGET
Budgeting properly for promoting content can be tough, especially when
you’ve already spent time and money in creating the content in the first
place. At times you’ll be offered the chance to dream up new and innovative
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ways to spread the word about your content. At other times, you may need to
overcome the “this is the way we’ve always done it” mindset when it comes
to securing the budget you need to effectively promote your content.
The best way to combat resistance is to factor promotional efforts into your
budget before you kick off a campaign. Be proactive and intentional in
considering what it will really take to get the most out of your content
post-publication. If you don’t have an allocated promotional budget or
an in-house social media/PR team, it’s vital you already have these next steps
determined.
Don’t be afraid to start small and see what works before fully committing
your dollars. Testing is your best friend. Creating a baseline based on
results you’ve seen in the past is an essential tool to justify your promotional
budget. That starts with great research.
CONVERGED MEDIA BUDGET FOCUS BY FUNNEL STAGE
BUDGET
FOCUS:
Paid
Earned
Owned
Awareness
Consideration
Advocacy
As a rule of thumb, your budgets for Paid and Earned Media should be
heavier with Awareness-targeted, traffic generating content. As you move to
Consideration and Purchase level content, your Owned Media budget should
rise and you seek to convert the new visitors your Awareness content has
attracted.
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ESTABLISHING A BASELINE & MEASURING RESULTS
Establishing a baseline is crucial to proving the success of your content
marketing efforts. The same way you’re held responsible for your overall
marketing goals and budget - so too should your content be held responsible.
Have you ever developed anything similar to your new content? If you know
you want to increase organic search traffic, and your research has indicated
your audience has an affinity for infographics, then find which infographics
have driven traffic to your website, using your analytics platform of choice.
Using this example, select the three infographics that have driven the most
organic traffic to your website, then use those to set a goal. You could also
capture all of the infographics you’ve published, then create an average baseline result. To control for the period of time you’re measuring filter by, say, the
first six months after publication. Be sure to record which tactics you used to
promote your previously-published content.
THE RESULTS MIGHT LOOK LIKE THIS:
Average Infographic Organic Search Traffic, 1st 6 Months: 1,500 visits
Top 5 Infographic Organic Search Traffic, 1st 6 Months: 2,250 visits
If you’ve only used social media to promote these infographics, plan accordingly to forecast results moving forward. You know to expect around 1,500
organic visits for an average infographic unless you extensively promote the
content. Likewise, if you replicate the elements of your best infographics but
do nothing besides your standard practices for promotion, you can expect
closer to 2,250 visits.
This can be the basis for a decision to invest in a public relations or media
Each piece
of content
you develop,
particularly your
promotable
pieces, should
have a stated goal
that relates back
to your overall
marketing efforts
for the year. Your
first step should
be to determine
these goals in
order to create
a baseline for
your content
promotion efforts.
outreach campaign to earn links back to your content in the hopes those
efforts will give a natural lift to your organic traffic. Or, you could decide
to write a few additional blog articles and supplemental pieces of content
to support your new infographic.
Record results and compare them to the baselines you established before
launch. You’ll see how close you came to meeting (or surpassing) your goal,
and then you can adjust your efforts for promotion, increasing your budget
if necessary.
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ADJUSTING ON THE FLY
With an informed baseline and proper campaign tracking, you can see which
tactics are performing better than others. Without it, you’ll have no idea
what’s working and what’s not.
Let’s go back to the example from the previous section. With your infographic,
we’ll be able to see which earned articles drive the most traffic and which
supporting pieces are sending visitors to our infographic. If we launch a
social media campaign, we’ll be able to see which channels perform better
than others. Having access to this information is a gold mine, because it
enables us to determine which channels and tactics work best, and how to
spend our budget wisely.
If you see your PR efforts are driving better returns and social isn’t working
well, you can turn off social spending and divert budget to boosting PR.
The lesson: work smarter, not harder. With great research, proper
baselines, and the right adjustments throughout your promotion campaign,
you’ll write the success story you deserve.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
You have more marketing tactics at your disposal than
Research: Every good content promotion campaign
ever before, but you must be smart in how you use
starts with research, before any content is ever creat-
them. Be willing to adjust course over time according
ed. This can involve researching your audience, look-
to what’s working for you and what’s not.
ing into emerging trends, social activity and which
publications share content like what you’re planning.
Useful and shareable: While you may think that all
of your content is awesome - you need to be honest
Establishing a Baseline & Measuring Results:
about what content is truly useful to your audience.
Establishing a baseline can be crucial in proving the
Remember that the best content to promote tends to
success of your content marketing efforts. Without
be thought leadership rather than product-specific
your baseline, you won’t know what’s working well
and salesy.
and what’s not.
Budget: Factor your promotional efforts into your
Adjusting on the Fly: Now that you have a baseline,
budgeting at the campaign kickoff. It’s essential to
you can measure your results over time and adjust
think about what happens to your content after
your strategy according to your understanding of
it’s published.
your best- and worst-performing tactics.
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E L E ME NT T HREE
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
There you have it. We’ve explored how to make
the most of your Owned Media, how to be strategic in using paid media channels like PPC and how
to earn publicity by syndicating your content and
reaching out to reporters and influencers.
The Converged Media approach takes a significant
amount of research, planning and coordination,
so don’t expect it to come together overnight.
Whether it’s a disruption in your industry or a new
opportunity, you’ll undoubtedly need to adjust your
course over time.
Feel free to reach out to us if you have any
questions about anything related to content
planning, creation or measurement. It would be
great to hear from you.
Cheers,
Dustin Clark
Digital Strategist
@dustinaclark
Amos Haffner
Marketing Manager
@amoshaffner
TACTICAL MODEL OF CONVERGED MEDIA
OWNE D M E D IA
Blog
Email
CTAs
Social Media
CO NVERGE D
M E D IA
PA I D M E D I A
EARNE D M E D IA
Advertorials
Amplification
Paid Social
PPC
Media Outreach
Public Relations
Influencer Outreach
Syndication
GET STARTED
Converged Media Promotional Campaign Checklist
Here’s one last resource to help you get started: a checklist to help you
navigate your first converged media promotional campaign. It breaks down
the steps required to begin building an effective converged media content
marketing campaign.
o Set a budget (hours and dollars) for your content creation and
promotion and stick to it.
o Identify industry influencers who can add credibility to your content and
its promotion
o C
reate a master editorial calendar you can use to map your email, blog,
social, and paid promotional tactics.
o Develop and implement a blog around your content. Use it to promote
long-form content such as eBooks, whitepapers, infographics and case
studies.
o Segment your audience and develop an email strategy dedicated to engaging each segment.
o Create several unique CTAs for each piece of long-form content you publish to use across your website, blog and emails.
o Leverage your top 2-3 (max) social channels with the highest levels of
engagement to promote your content. Utilize a social scheduling tool to
schedule messages in advance, and keep these messages unique.
o Manage your first paid Adwords campaign. Begin with a small budget
and build appropriately. A/B Test your ads within each geographic/demographic group you select.
o Build a list of partners and publications that can help you promote and
syndicate your content. Start with free channels for syndication, like
LinkedIn Pulse.
o Review your promotional performance bi-weekly and adjust on the fly.
Determine which strategies produce the best results.
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E L E ME NT T HREE
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