Content Marketing is all the rage – everyone’s talking about it and worse, everyone thinks they should be doing it. But what the heck is it exactly?
For the CFC Speaker Podcast Series, I interviewed Mark O’Brien, who will be conducting a post-Conference workshop at CFC on Monday, June 24 called: You Don’t Know What You Know: Developing Your Content Strategy. And at the end of his 3 hour, extremely hands-on workshop (designed for all types of freelancers and small firm owners), you will leave with your content strategy in hand! (Details here.)
Here’s an excerpt from our interview but you can listen to the whole 15 minutes here…..
Q: What is content marketing and why is it important?
A: It’s the currency of the modern marketing platform. Essentially it means creating educational content that is focused on the overlap between your expertise and your prospect’s pain points. It’s the fuel for attracting, informing and engaging prospects, no matter where they are in the buying cycle.
Q: Doesn’t content marketing essentially turn all of us into publishers?
A: Yes, it’s true there’s a dark, annoying and difficult side to it. And in order to compete you do need to become a bit of a publisher. It’s the only way your voice is going to be heard. Content is the key but positioning is the main ingredient to a viable content strategy.
Q: What challenges do creative pros have with content marketing:
- Lack of positioning. It requires discipline, focus and yes, risk taking. Plus, it’s a discovery process.
- Burn out. It’s essential not to over-commit to all sorts of blogging and social media. Otherwise you’ll quickly burn out.
- Determining the right platforms, publishing frequency and points of engagement on your site.
Don’t worry. He’ll be covering all of that in his Post-Conference CFC workshop: You Don’t Know What You Know: Developing Your Content Strategy. (That follows my morning workshop, Determine Your Positioning and Find Your Target Market. The price of the workshops has just been reduced to $99. Details here.)
The better understanding you have of who you are, how you work, who hires you and why, the more likely you will leave this workshop with an actionable content strategy that will enable you to reliably and consistently create content for yourself or your firm
BTW: Mark is also presenting on Day 2 of CFC, “The Conversion-Focused Web Site,” a great primer for the workshop, since your web site is the “home” for your content.
Find Mark at www.newfangled.com and see how his firm practices what they preach. They have 13 years worth of content strategy, SEO, responsive design, analytics, lead generation and more!
And don’t forget that next Friday, March 15 is the early bird deadline for CFC: June 22-24 in San Francisco. Get $100 off (CFC only) if you combine promo code “ILISE” + Early Bird rate. Register here now.