Beyond the blog articles and videos, an effective content marketing campaign will include calls-to-action on the site, premium pieces of content (like e-books, white papers, and so on), and other components.
Also, now that leads are starting to come in, keep in mind it’s critical to measure where they are coming from. Specifically, you want to always look at your leads and the piece of content that brought them to the site. If that lead at some point becomes a customer, and you know their originating piece of content, you can now track value back to that one single article, video, tweet, and so on. As you might imagine, your ability to do this is critical for the long-term success and buy-in of your content marketing efforts. It also shows you where you need to spend more or less of your time, resources, and attention.
Stage 4. Months 4–18: Generate Sales and Revenue
Finally, the day has come: you were able to track an actual sale back to your content marketing efforts. The importance of this transaction, and every one after this, is critical to the long-term success of the content and making it a culture.
Depending on your company’s sales cycles, along with a variety of other factors, the speed at which sales result from your content marketing efforts can vary tremendously. That being said, it should certainly happen before the first-year mark. Furthermore, sales teams should be getting better and better by this point at using the content that has been produced and injecting it throughout the prospect’s entire sales experience.
Stage 5. Months 18–36: The Snowball Is Rolling Down the Mountain
For the first year or so, establishing an ultra-successful content marketing program can almost feel like you’re rolling a snowball up a mountain. Frankly, it’s no easy task.
But there does come a point, especially if you do it consistently and the right way, focusing on They Ask, You Answer (and allowing that to guide future strategy), that the snowball will not only reach the top of the mountain, but it will start rolling down the other side, picking up momentum and growing bigger than your wildest expectations.
Many of the case studies you’ve read in this book were certainly examples of this phenomena.
But it took time. It took people willing to own the program and management teams who made it clear to the team just how serious the content marketing efforts were.
Regardless of your industry or the size of your company, I truly believe these types of results are available for you. As you have already surmised, these numbers are all estimates. There are too many factors to list and too many variables in every company and industry to come up with hard numbers.
That being said, these parameters will, I hope, guide you along your content marketing journey and help you have a clearer vision of what to expect ahead.
41
Is Content Marketing and They Ask, You Answer Just a Fad?
“Will content marketing even be around in ten years once everyone has attempted to do it?”
This question, and others just like it, have been tossed my way in almost every presentation I’ve given on the subject over the past five years.
And unfortunately, for many of the folks asking the question, this lack of understanding as to what content marketing really is has led to inaction and a greater divide between themselves and their competitors—those who are willing to accept today’s consumer and shift the way they market and sell accordingly.
What Exactly Is Content Marketing?
Fundamentally, if we boil it down to its most basic characteristics, how would we define content marketing (assuming we weren’t using marketing speak)?
Earning trust through teaching?
Using great information to help others solve their problems?
Listening to consumer questions and providing honest answers to those questions?
However you define it, these basic tenets of content marketing and They Ask, You Answer have been around forever. Since the beginning of time, we’ve known that great communication, listening, teaching, and transparency all lead to trust.
The same could be said for the future.
But today, because of the Internet and the information age, we’ve given it a name: content marketing. It’s not a name I made up, and it’s maybe not even the name we’ll be using in twenty or thirty years. But it certainly fits the bill for right now to describe this act of using helpful and utilitarian information to earn trust with the digital consumer.
In the future, what will change about the way consumers develop trust with brands and ultimately make buying decisions?
Will teaching still be relevant?
Will helping others solve their problems still hold value and build trust?
Will it be important to obsessively hear and address questions from your prospects and customers?
Yes, of course they will.
Consumers will be vetting businesses like yours and mine more deeply than they ever have before.
And when they stumble across a website (or whatever we call it in the future) that is truly a resource and a wealth of knowledge, they will stay.
So is what we’re talking about herein a fad?
Nope, it’s a principle that has been around since the beginning and is not going anywhere anytime soon.
42
How Can I Keep My Team Engaged in the Content Production Process?
In order to overcome this issue and help your team produce the type and amount of content they are capable of, it’s critical to get creative. Simply saying, “Everyone, start blogging,” will never be enough, at least not in developing a culture in which creating content is not simply something team members check off each month. There must be more.
Krista Kotrla of Block Imaging, whom we discussed in chapter 34, has created a masterful culture of getting consistent participation from dozens and dozens of employees in the effort to produce consistent, powerful company content. The following is a list inspired by some of the things she has done to keep the magic of They Ask, You Answer going at Block Imaging, as well as some of the other creative ways clients have made this such a successful culture.
Ten Ways to Keep Your Employees Motivated to Participate in Content Marketing
1. Focus Your Initial Content on the Bottom-of-the-Funnel Buyer Questions and Get It in the Hands of the Sales Team
Remember, quick wins are essential to great content marketing, and one of the mistakes many teams make is starting off with questions that won’t generate immediate results, at least not from a SEO or sales standpoint. This is why addressing the subjects of the Big 5: cost, problems, comparisons, reviews, and best-of are generally the most critical to tackle early on in the content marketing process. Once completed, you’ll take these same pieces of content, stack them together in an organized way, and create e-books, guides, video series, and so on so as to enhance the sales team’s capabilities to educate the prospect, earn trust, and close more deals.
2. Shine a Light On the Superhero Participants by Giving Them Awards and Team Recognition
Publicly tell the stories of why team members are being recognized so that others will learn from their example and, one hopes, want to copy them. Remember, if you can make the employees (especially those in the sales department) look like rock stars, others will naturally want to be a part of the “movement” as well.
3. Encourage the Team to Share Cross-Department Successes in Meetings
Create a segment for others to tell their success stories. It is really powerful when these experiences start popping up in other departments. An example of this would be a salesperson thanking an engineer for the blog article that was the catalyst for a lead contacting the company and ultimately turning into a customer.
4. Share Results and Celebrate Milestones
You can customize awards and recognition for your situation, but here are a few examples of milestones worth celebrating:
Articles or videos that reach a thousand views
Number of leads generated
Views from organic traf
fic
When you finally rank on page 1 of search results for target keyword phrases
Share recent deals and tie them back to the content that played into the customer experience
Note: A great way to do this in a consistent, organized manner is to create a quarterly newsletter that everyone on the team can read and see all of the highlights from that time period.
5. Create Some Team Goals to Strive Toward Together
Here are examples of activities you could consider:
Individual: Five blog articles = slippers (something visible that they get to wear around the office like a status symbol)
Collective: Two hundred blogs = whirly ball (everyone gets to go play)
Department versus department competition (service team versus product team)
Individual versus individual face-off
6. Make They Ask, You Answer Training Part of the Hiring and Onboarding Process for New Team Members in Every Department
This goes without saying, but it’s critical. Also, if you have an initial all-hands-on-deck workshop to kick off your inbound and content marketing efforts, make sure you video record it for future employees.
7. Make It Easy for the Team to Share Content
Want your employees to share content? Make it easy for them. Teach them how to do it. For example, you could introduce them to:
Lazy links: A hyperlink to a website typed in by an instant messenger chat member while chatting because he or she is too lazy to open up a browser, type in the URL, and click “enter.”
E-mail signatures: One of the simplest ways to point someone’s attention to content, especially with all new signature tools available on the market today.
Social media: Many more employees would share company content if they understood how to share it, when to share it, and why to share it. A little training can go a long way in this process.
8. Ask for Help in Very Specific Ways
Remember, everyone wants to feel important, which is why “special tasks” or “missions” can be a great content marketing initiative. Here are a few examples:
“Hey, here’s a strategic phrase that we don’t rank for yet and is an area you know a lot about. Could you address this topic so that people will find us when searching for this answer?”
“Hey, Manager, we’re not seeing any content from your department lately. Could you bring this up in your next team meeting to drum up some activity and participation? Your department is full of knowledge, and we need to get that knowledge out to the rest of the world.”
“Hey, we’re going to take all of your greatest blog articles and start filming video versions as well. We want people to not just hear you, but see you as well. Here is a meeting invite for your first filming session.”
9. Humanize It
Always remind everyone of the real human beings that this content affects. How does it change lives? What is the deeper “why” to what they’re being asked to do?
10. Stay Curious
Great content marketing leaders are always looking for an edge. Part of this is never being satisfied with average and doing whatever it takes to become a world-class organization of teachers and listeners. A big part of this is knowing how to ask the right questions of your team. Here are a few examples:
“Hey, you’re really awesome at generating content on a regular basis. What is your secret to making it look easy? How have you worked it in to your everyday life?”
“Hey, thought you’d be interested to learn that 80 percent of your team members are contributing content. I’m curious to hear how I can make it easier for you to participate so that people can learn from you too.”
“How can I make this easier for the team to participate? How can I make it more fun?”
“How can I prove this is working?
The bottom line to great content and They Ask, You Answer is this, folks: It’s about results. This is exactly why you must get results, then tell the results, then celebrate the results, and, of course, improve results. And, while doing this, tell the stories that help everyone remember that this is about real people.
Sometimes you have to lead by example. Sometimes you have to get in the trenches and work side by side. You have to empower others to equip and encourage one another. You have to set up a lot of feedback loops. You have to love the challenge of it. You have to build it into your culture.
No, it’s not easy, but it is certainly worth it.
43
“I’ve Been Told If We’re Not Adding Anything New to the Conversation, Then We Shouldn’t Be Talking about It”
One of the biggest tragedies I’ve seen spoken out of the mouths of “experts” in the digital marketing space is the concept that if someone (individual, company, or other entity) has already said (written about, talked about, produced a video about) something, then it’s a waste of time for someone else to add their two cents, especially if they’re not adding anything “new” to the conversation.
For lack of a better way of putting this: the people who make these statements are ignorant of the history of the world and completely missing the mark.
You see, at this point (in the 21st century), most everything we say is a repeat of what someone else has already said.
In this book, I’ve espoused honesty, transparency, and great teaching so as to gain trust in business.
Is this a new concept?
No, it’s older than dirt.
But I’m explaining it my way, with my stories, in my language.
And because I’m willing to take the time to explain it in the pages herein, two parties benefit.
First of all, for many readers, this may be the book that finally touches them in such a way that they take action by becoming obsessive listeners, problem solvers, and teachers in their space—something that will generate more trust and ultimately new business.
This increase in business will lead to increased revenues, enable them to hire more employees, and ideally live a life of financial peace.
You might read those words and think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. I’ve seen the results of this again and again. I’ve been talking about the importance of They Ask, You Answer for more than five years. I’ve been blogging about it, producing videos about it, and speaking on stages around the world about it.
I’ve seen what can happen when individuals and businesses embrace this philosophy, many of whom have contacted me after the fact and told me touching stories of the impact—personally and professionally.
This brings me to the other party that benefits: me.
By writing this book, I’m being forced to take everything I’ve learned and distill it into words. I’ve been challenged to research deeper, think harder, and articulate my thoughts and experiences more clearly.
And because of this, I will finish this book a better communicator on this subject than I was when I started.
You see, that is the thing—by producing content, regardless of how many times “it has been said”—we become better people, better employees, better sales professionals, and better communicators.
That’s how it works.
And that’s how it has worked for thousands of years.
Before I finish my thoughts on this subject, just look at the most popular book of all time: the Bible.
Anyone who has read the Books of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John of the New Testament know these Gospels are very similar. In fact, there is quite a bit of redundancy across the four books.
But what would have happened if Luke had said, “Well, Mathew already talked about this, so I think it would be a waste of time for me to talk about it as well”?
History would have changed entirely.
Regardless of your thoughts on the Gospels, I hope you see my point here.
This is why I truly believe every individual and company needs to write what I call “The Gospel According to You.”
Your prospects and customers want to know your thoughts and feelings.
/> They want to know what you believe and why you believe it.
But you also need to experience this as well.
You need to distill your thoughts.
You need to state your company’s doctrine.
By so doing, you’ll positively affect every party involved. You’ll become better teachers and communicators. You’ll be more in touch with what your customers are thinking.
And you’ll gain their trust.
44
A Revolutionary Marketing Strategy
As I look back on these past seven years, it almost seems like a dream.
One day, I’m a pool guy on the brink of losing my business. The bank is calling. My credit cards are maxed out. My employees are sitting home. And as a father and husband, I’m failing.
And then, what seems like the next day I’m traveling the world and helping businesses become their best selves while speaking to audiences of hundreds and thousands of people. It’s amazing. Really amazing. And more important, as a father and husband, I’m present. Believe it or not, I’m home way more now than I ever was as a struggling pool guy.
Simply put, we are happy. We are blessed.
In many ways, how the River Pools and Spas story became so very well known in the digital space occurred when I experienced a very fortunate event in 2013.
They Ask You Answer Page 18