Pause Your Holiday Playlist. It's Time for Content Pros!

The holiday season is in full swing. For those of you in the States, we hope you're pleasantly stuffed, rested, and back to work in preparation for some well-deserved downtime. To get you back in the swing of things, Randy Frisch and I invited Joanna Wiebe, Mark Masters, Ruth Carter, and Amanda Nelson to share their marketing experience. Put your Christmas music on pause, grab a steaming mug of cocoa, and start listening to these Content Pros guests.

The Problem with Content's Squiggly Line to the Yes

Metrics on clicks and shares are pushing aside financial aims, resulting in the goal of content becoming more and more about generating interest rather than direct dollars. The thought is that if you draw people to your site often enough, they will eventually buy your product.

Joanna Wiebe finds this roundabout way of closing deals through content cumbersome and unnecessary. It is also undercutting the educational and value aspect of content, leading to short fluff pieces with no truly measurable purpose or impact.

A fan of long-form content and pop-ups, Joanna has made the business case for meaty content that educates, engages, and, most importantly, converts your readers. By embracing the sales aspect of content and using it as a tool for conscious, immediate conversions, she has repurposed content and made it an active part of the funnel.

In this episode, Joanna shares the following with us:

• Why measuring the success of content doesn't mean looking at shares or clicks


• How lengthy, in-depth content leads to holding customer attention better in a crowded marketplace


• Why paying for content means pop-ups, whether you like it or not

How Disruptive Learning Keeps Content Relevant

Anybody can start a blog or podcast these days. But how does a content marketer stand apart from these hobby-bloggers? Furthermore, how do they gain momentum and keep it going over time in a diluted market?

In Mark Master's extensive experience it's deceptively simple. Start with finding the value in your content by asking why. Why are you creating this content? What is it you're trying to do? Once you understand the value that you are bringing to the table, you create content that fulfills one of three conditions: it entertains, it challenges, or it comes from genuine experience.

A few highlights from our conversation with Mark:

• Why developing actionable content means taking a step back and asking “why” first


• How cutting down on content leads to valuable, relevant, and consistent messaging


• How being ok with being bad at something leads to confident momentum

How to Safely and Legally Curate Content

As the volume of content published online continues to explode, navigating the legal rights and wrongs of this content has become increasingly complex. Curation tools make it all too easy to accidentally plagiarize content, and it's hard to keep track of current copyright rules.

Ruth Carter's experience in creating content while working as a lawyer has provided her with the skills and knowledge necessary to share insightful information to help you stay on a safe path while keeping your materials profitable. When it comes to being safe online, the fine print is your friend! Carefully reviewing terms and conditions, citing original sources, and liberal use of disclaimers can help steer you out of harm's way.

Learn from Ruth about:

• How using the tools of content curation can lead to shaky copyright ground


• Why determining legal ownership of content means examining the who and what of it first


• How the incorrect order of words when it comes to FTC disclosures can lead to a possible five-figure fine

What Content After the Funnel Really Looks Like

Most content marketers' journey begins and ends with the sales funnel. They draw prospects in, convert them to customers, and leave it at that.

Amanda Nelson focuses on content that comes after the funnel. She sits in the space after the sale with a goal to engage and retain customers through targeted, responsive content.

One unique aspect of her approach is to join forces and brainstorm with customers on what is important. By talking to them, hearing their stories, and putting them at the center of everything she does, she lets the customer become the voice of the product.

Not only does this keep customers after the sale, but it also feeds information back to the company as to what consumers are looking for in their products. So while Amanda's content starts after the sale, it has a ripple effect throughout all stages of the funnel.

Listen in on our conversation to gain insight on:

• How content does and does not change after a sale


• Why curating the best content means interviewing customers


• How regular internal check-ins lead to efficient and relevant content across platforms

This monthly round-up of the weekly Content Pros podcast shares some takeaways from recent episodes. If you like what you've read (and heard), please subscribe to the show on iTunes or wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.