10 Point Checklist for Content Marketing

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10 Point Checklist for Content Marketing
Content marketing is the new buzz that marketers and businesses are flocking to address the
dramatic changes that have t aken place in how to promote a product or service on the Internet.
The idea is simple: Consistent ly create, publish and broadcast content that your prospects will find
engaging and valuable (That’s easy, right?)
With so much noise about this transformation underway and how to address it, I share these
insights from the 2011 Content Marketing Conference which I recently attended in Berkeley.
1. Avoid you, you, you!
When it comes to your content, forget the chest pounding and hard sell. If you think people are
interested in you or your needs, it’s t ime to revisit your thinking. Today, more than ever, it’s about
WIIFM (What’s in it for me!). So you better frame your content around the benefit s and the value
that you’re going to deliver to your prospect or customer.
2. Be clear on where you’re going
As Joe Pulizzi of Junta42reminds us, successful Content Marketing falls into 2 basic categories. A.
Content that is relevant, informative and educational B. Content that shows prospects a good
time through entertainment So, if you want to be noticed, shared, remembered or act ed upon,
decide how to approach content creation with these two categories in mind. It will help keep you
on track and hopefully deliver better results.
3. Focus on what hurts
If you’re going to create content that others will share or engage with, it better be relevant to your
prospects. And relevance is determined if content addresses an issue or pain point that your
prospect is dealing with and would like to mitigate or overcome. If you’re unsure or unclear on what
your t arget cust omer’s pain points are, get some input and gain some insights by creating a
survey, create listening posts on your stream, setting up Google Alerts or actually doing field
research with interviews and a structured questionnaire.
4. No conversions without a CTA
This is so obvious, yet it’s amazing how frequently it’s overlooked by so many. It gets to the heart
of direct marketing and the essent ial techniques for furthering the selling cycle of a product or
service. For every post or content asset that you create, be sure t o integrate a CALL TO

ACTIONto guide the prospect or customer to what you would like them to do next.
5. Forget the message and logo police
It’s time to change the Marketing Depart ment from the message and logo police to continuous
producers of content. And as anyone in these positions knows, that is so much easier said than
done. Letting go of the old and moving to new technologies and media that meet the needs of
cust omers may involve new cultural, skill-set, and thinking t echniques that are not necessarily
aligned with the current competencies in many organizations. But like all change, some will find it
painful and others liberating as marketing continues to transform like never bef ore.
6. Have a unique POV
Come from and be clear on what you stand for and what makes your brand different. The best
way do that is to do the rigorous work of defining a value proposition that is meaningful, relevant
and supportable by what you offer. Ensure that this proposition considers a personality that is
unique to you and reflects what inspires others to turn to you for a solution.
7. Get it scheduled and get organized
Continuously creating and broadcasting content is a formidable task. So start by breaking it down
into manageable activities and parts. For example, create a CALENDAR that organizes all of your
content creation activities into subject matter, media, and resources responsible for execution.
And always consider how to leverage your investment in a piece of content to get additional reach
and pass along by t aking one piece of content and turning it into many. For example, your blog
interview could turn into an ebook, a SlideShare presentation or a series of short topic post s and
even a podcast.
8. Reach for engagement
With all of content that is being produced at a mind boggling pace, there is one component that
has a higher value above all ot hers. It’s QUALITY—and it consists of t he subtleties of story telling,
language, design, nuance, timing, editing, coloration and visual impact that can turn the ordinary
into extraordinary. When in doubt , invest in the effort to make it great because you increase the
opportunity to extend the reach of your content through others who will share it with their
communities.
9. Collaborate, communicate and evaluate
Collaborate with your sales force and align your eff orts with theirs to ensure that the content that

you are investing in furthers a defined and predictable selling cycle that has the goal of t urning
prospects into customers. Do a competitor test and evaluate what your competition is doing that
is effective, memorable and worth considering for your brand.
10. Persistence has its rewards
Do it! Do it! Do it! as Peter Caputa from HubSpot likes to say. Getting it done is more important
than thinking about it. Study after study is now recognizing that consistency and frequency of
creation, distribution and optimization of content is the single best practice t hat drives traffic,
promotes conversion and f osters engagement with your audience.
So what techniques and methods have you found that are delivering the best results?
Please share them with us so that we can include t hem in our checklist .
Connect:
Authored by:
Paul Pruneau
As founder and president of Teamworks Communications, Inc., Paul Pruneau helps early
stage and established companies develop communications and brand strategy, engineer
content to express customer value, and create online solutions to help businesses succeed.
To learn more about Paul and Teamworks Communications, just visit his blog, follow him on
Twitter, or connect on LinkedIn.
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