"Zero Distortion Content Marketing" is Stephen Bateman's 7 step content marketing manifesto in response to the content marketing ‘buzz’ we see at marketing conferences worldwide, and his effort to help marketers' and business owners see through the trees to the wood, to make content marketing work. In his presentation Stephen demonstrates a tried, tested and trusted framework that blows the fuzz and distortion off content marketing, so that strategic digital marketing can succeed. This is a condensed version of his lifelong body of work, currently published in partnership with Smart Insights.

1. @concentricdots 1
Cortes Distortion, Oil on Canvas by Michael Longhofer. [source: blog.art251.com]
ZERO DISTORTION CONTENT MARKETING
Seven Non-Negotiable Disciplines For Success in 2016
Stephen Bateman. SmartInsights.com
A tried, tested and trusted
framework that blows the fuzz
and distortion off content
marketing, so that strategic digital
marketing can succeed.

2. @concentricdots 2
Hello
About Stephen Bateman
o Career marketer since
1995
o DipM CIM / CAM Dip
o Author of 2 Smart Insights
content marketing
strategy guides and e-
learning toolkit
o Founder of
concentricdotscontentmar
keting.com and
iGlimpse.co.uk
o Consultant / trainer in
digital marketing since
2013
o Past: educational / trade
publisher
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/shbateman

3. @concentricdots 3
“Hands up if you’re exploring ways to position and promote your marketing
content so that it reaches your target audiences and converts them into
subscribers and customers, and keeps them coming back.”

4. @concentricdots
WorldwideUnited StatesUnited KingdomIreland
Interest in content marketing.
Google Trends

5. @concentricdots 5
My early experimentation with content marketing.
I started blogging here in early 2012For a year, I didn’t break 100 visits/dayThen a post got some attentionBut visits flatlined againMost people would have given up hereBut I’m glad I saw it through
Analytics

6. @concentricdots 6
Stephen’s Healthy Back Blog.
I started blogging here in early 2012For a year, I didn’t break 100 visits/dayThen a post got some attentionBut visits flatlined againMost people would have given up hereBut I’m glad I saw it through

7. @concentricdots 7
For a year, I didn’t break 100 visits/day
Stephen’s Healthy Back Blog.

8. @concentricdots 8
Then a post got some attention
Stephen’s Healthy Back Blog.

9. @concentricdots 9
But visits flatlined again
Stephen’s Healthy Back Blog.

10. @concentricdots 10
Most people would have given up here
Stephen’s Healthy Back Blog.

11. @concentricdots 11
I’m glad I saw it through
Stephen’s Healthy Back Blog.

12. @concentricdots 12
The Hype Cycle concept is an
accurate way to follow the adoption
curve of a disruptive technology.
1. The technology trigger
point for content marketing:
Any business can publish on
the web. Big platforms, huge
audiences. No fees.
Aspirant status
2. Content marketing seen as
shiny, amazing, and novel.We
all jump on the wagon.
Explorer status.
3. Slide into trough.This isn’t
as easy as we thought. It
doesn’t work. Blame the tool.
Disillusioned status. Most
give up here.
4. With expert help we can
learn the process. Find the
optimal way. Enlightened
status.
5. This works. Greta ROI.
Experienced, knowledgeable
status.
Content Marketing Through the lens of Gartner’s Five Step Hype Cycle
Gartner Five Step Hype Cycle

13. @concentricdots 13http://bit.ly/Content-Marketing-Strategy-e-Learning-Course
What’s your content marketing maturity level?
Assess your capability.

14. @concentricdots 14
USAGE & EFFECTIVENESS
How would you describe
your organization’s content
marketing maturity level?
This was a new question this year. In general,
effectiveness levels are greater among marketers
with higher levels of content marketing maturity.
Among those who reported being the
most effective:
• 78% were in the sophisticated/mature phase
• 22% were in the adolescent phase
• 0% were in the young/first steps phase
SAY SOPHISTICATED
OR MATURE
32%SOPHISTICATED
MATURE
ADOLESCENT
FIRST STEPS
YOUNG
Providing accurate measurement to the
business, scaling across the organization
Finding success, yet
challenged with integration
across the organization
Have developed a business case,
seeing early success, becoming more
sophisticated with measurement and scaling
Growing pains, challenged
with creating a cohesive strategy
and a measurement plan
Doing some aspects of content,
but have not yet begun to make
content marketing a process
9%
14%
23%
30%
23%
How UK Marketers Assess Their
Content Marketing Maturity Level
Content Marketing in the UK 2016: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Content Marketing Institute
SPONSORED BY
7
http://bit.ly/cmi-uk-benchmarks-2016
Content marketing maturity levels in the UK 2016

15. @concentricdots 15
The return on
content
marketing lags,
and the
benefits aren’t
apparent until
later.
Rule 1.
http://bit.ly/content-roi-webinar

16. @concentricdots 16
30 day trials don’t work.
Content marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.
Don’t give up too soon.
Takeaway #1

17. @concentricdots 17
For more on costs, KPIs, measurement and ROI.
ROI =
Return
Investment £ cost of producing content
£ cost of sourcing content
£ time planning / managing strategy
£ time distributing content
£ paid promotion
£ software and tools
£ visibility in search
£ share of voice, brand uplift
£ thought leadership, mentions
£ conversions
£ leads and revenue
http://bit.ly/Content-ROI-Guide

18. @concentricdots 18http://bit.ly/curata-ultimate-tool-list

19. @concentricdots 19http://bit.ly/curata-ultimate-tool-list

20. @concentricdots 20
Let’s untangle the distortion.
In seven interdependent steps.

21. @concentricdots
21
Work on
4 Manage the
editorial.
4 Themes, topics,
12 month
calendar,
production plan,
content hub.
5 Create great
content.
5 Writing,
headlines,
formatting, on-
page SEO,
curation,
atomisation.
6 Market your
marketing.
6 Channel
management,
influencers, paid
promotion.
Non-negotiable
1 Audit and set
clear goals.
1 Capability
assessment,
content audit,
smart goals,
metrics.
2 Define
audiences and
personas.
2 Customer
segments, ideal
buyer personas,
buying cycle,
keywords.
3 Create a
strategy.
3 One pager:
Mission
statement, value
proposition,
sweet spot,
governance.
7 Evaluation and
measurement
ROI.
7 Costs, metrics,
analytics,
reporting.
7 Critical success factors.
http://bit.ly/cm-strategy-guide

22. @concentricdots 22http://bit.ly/cmi-uk-benchmarks-2016

23. @concentricdots
23
4 Manage the
editorial.
4 Themes, topics,
12 month
calendar,
production plan,
content hub.
5 Create great
content.
5 Writing,
headlines,
formatting, on-
page SEO,
curation,
atomisation.
6 Market your
marketing.
6 Channel
management,
influencers, paid
promotion.
1 Audit and set
clear goals.
1 Capability
assessment,
content audit,
smart goals,
metrics.
2 Define
audiences and
personas.
2 Customer
segments, ideal
buyer personas,
buying cycle,
keywords.
3 Create a
strategy.
3 One pager:
Mission
statement, value
proposition,
sweet spot,
governance.
7 Evaluation and
measurement
ROI.
7 Costs, metrics,
analytics,
reporting.
5 critical focus areas.
#1Producingengagingcontent
http://bit.ly/cm-strategy-guide

24. @concentricdots 24
4 Techniques
1. A content marketing mission statement to define the purpose of your
content marketing
2. A customer buyer persona to avoid publishing egocentric content and
focus your content production on “buyer-relevance.” so you can
develop themes and topics that stick and a 12 month calendar of
content.
3. A content curation system to help you get inspiration and ideas you
don’t lose track of, which inspire you to create even better content.
4. A great content creation checklist to make you content attractive,
discoverable, consumable, shareable.
Producingengagingcontent
http://bit.ly/cm-strategy-guide

25. @concentricdots 25
Three-step content marketing mission statement
#1Producingengagingcontent
http://bit.ly/cm-strategy-guide

26. @concentricdots 26
Persona Profile: Laura | Age: 24 – 34 years old | Demographic: B or C1
Job: Laura is employed within the same sector in which she did her degree. Either an office based,
professional services job or a nurturing role such as a teacher or healthcare. Laura is determined to
keep climbing her chosen career ladder and is currently working toward a promotion into middle
management, if she isn’t there already!
“I wish there was an
extra hour in the day!”
Between organizing her active social life,
staying late at work, catching up with mum,
reviewing the wedding budget with her
fiancé and replying to numerous WhatsApp
messages from her bridesmaids – Laura
finds herself saying this phrase often!
Anything that can help her spend her time
more efficiently, is King.
Her main online frustration is:
“There is a glut of
information available
online, but most of it isn’t
relevant to me. I haven’t got
time to wade through it all!”
Laura loves visual,
graphical and
concise content!
Laura knows her Facebook usage is out of control! She can’t
help checking Facebook on her smartphone throughout the
working day. She also uses her smartphone to browse
Pinterest and wedding blogs during her commute to work. In
the evening, if she isn’t out at the latest bar or restaurant in
town, she curls up on the sofa with her tablet or laptop to
continue her Pinterest search, whilst checking in on
Facebook and Instagram throughout the evening.
Family, friends and social acceptance are
central to Laura’s decision making process.
Laura has a realistic, but not
bottomless, budget. She wants
to avoid cutting corners so will
invest her precious time in
ensuring that she is spending
her money wisely.
In her spare time,
Laura catches up with
friends at local foodie
establishments. She is
prepared to pay for
quality food and drink
if she has heard
positive reviews from
her social circle.
#2Producingengagingcontent Customer Persona
http://bit.ly/cm-strategy-guide
For B2B Buyer Persona generation visit:
http://bit.ly/B2B-Buyer-Persona-Generation

27. @concentricdots 27
#3Producingengagingcontent
Three-step content curation system
Select the most important evergreen content.
Organise / tag and file it in a content repository.
Filter-out the mediocre stuff. Act like a museum
curator working on an outstanding exhibit.
Curation is a human practice.
Identify big trends from small musings.
Mash up / merge content to create fresh
perspectives. Publish to your social
networks.
Distribution is semi- automated.
Use a combination of tools to grab / trap /
scoop gather content from scattered places
and bring them into one place.
Aggregation is a technology.
Content
Curation
I
Adapted HiveFire Inc
I
Content
Elevation
http://bit.ly/cm-strategy-guide

28. @concentricdots 28
#4Producingengagingcontent
A great content creation checklist
http://bit.ly/cm-strategy-guide
Attractive1
Discoverable2
Consumable3
Understandable4
Shareable 5
Actionable 6

29. @concentricdots 29
Takeaway: Spend minimum 20% of your time researching and testing headlines
Pay special attention to headlines
On average, five times as
many people read the
headline as read the copy
body. When you have written
your headline, you have
spent eighty cents of your
dollar.
David Ogilvy
80% of people make a decision about whether or not they should check out
an article based on the headline.
#4Producingengagingcontent Attractive1

30. @concentricdots 30
Personalise
Words that stand out from the crowd
You and Your
• “You” is the 5th most popular word in viral
headlines.*
• “Your” is in the Top 20.
• Combined, these two pronouns appear in 16
per cent of all the headlines in the study.*
Takeaway: Use You and Your to signal your content is about the reader, not about the writer.
*Rippen survey: http://bit.ly/viral-headlines
#4Producingengagingcontent Attractive1

31. @concentricdots 31
Test your headline for attractiveness
http://bit.ly/headline-analyser
#4Producingengagingcontent Attractive1

32. @concentricdots 32http://bit.ly/cmi-uk-benchmarks-2016

33. @concentricdots
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4 Manage the
editorial.
4 Themes, topics,
12 month
calendar,
production plan,
content hub.
5 Create great
content.
5 Writing,
headlines,
formatting, on-
page SEO,
curation,
atomisation.
6 Market your
marketing.
6 Channel
management,
influencers, paid
promotion.
1 Audit and set
clear goals.
1 Capability
assessment,
content audit,
smart goals,
metrics.
2 Define
audiences and
personas.
2 Customer
segments, ideal
buyer personas,
buying cycle,
keywords.
3 Create a
strategy.
3 One pager:
Mission
statement, value
proposition,
sweet spot,
governance.
7 Evaluation and
measurement
ROI.
7 Costs, metrics,
analytics,
reporting.
2 critical focus areas.
#2Measuringcontenteffectiveness
http://bit.ly/cm-strategy-guide

34. @concentricdots 34
2 Simple Techniques
1. A content auditing system to stop you haemorrhaging potential
customers, reduce your bounce rate, and increase your reader
engagement and conversion levels.
3. A simple reporting system to report your content marketing KPIs, get
buy-in and earn more budget.
#2Measuringcontenteffectiveness
http://bit.ly/cm-strategy-guide

35. @concentricdots 35
A goldmine of data
Content analytics

36. @concentricdots 36
POLISH / optimiseKEEP / do
more
3 TRASH
4
Spreadsheet
Existing Content Assets
1
RubbishStar content Moderate
2
Gaps
Ideate /CREATE
http://bit.ly/cm-strategy-guide
#2Measuringcontenteffectiveness
A content auditing system

37. @concentricdots 37http://bit.ly/cm-strategy-guide
#2Measuringcontenteffectiveness
A simple reporting system
Source: Ryan Skinner for Forrester

38. @concentricdots 38http://bit.ly/Content-Marketing-Strategy-e-Learning-Course
Plan your journey to content marketing excellence
Assess your capability.
• What’s my capability?
• Is content marketing right
for me and my business?
• How much does it cost?
• How do I get buy-in?
• How do I decide what skills
and disciplines to focus on?
• What techniques can I learn
to improve my content
marketing ROI.
• What tools will help me
promote my content and
increase my reach?

39. @concentricdots 39
1. Ideal buyer personas are non-negotiable: we can only create content that works when we understand what out target
audience is looking for.
2. Understand your buyers issues and challenges: Define eight category themes and topics in your sweet spot, stick to
them, relentlessly, if you want search engines to index and rank your content as expert and authoritative.
3. Know your buyer cycle intimately: There are 6 phases and 13 touch points in the buying cycle (funnels) where your
potential buyer is open to influence. This is where your content marketing can win or lose the battle. This is where you pick
your formats. It’ your marketing, but it’s their time. Have you got the formats that are required for the job, or are you leaking
profit?
4. It’s better to publish one truly excellent post per week than five mediocre posts every week.
5. If you’re creating great content, but have poor on-page SEO, you might as well not be creating content.
6. If you’re still in the early stages of earning your domain authority and page rank, use programmatic paid solutions to
promote your content.
7. Allocate 25% of your time and budget to paid promotion.
8. Define your process. At Concentric Dots / Smart Insights we use a seven step process.
9. Don’t aim for perfection with your strategy, rough is enough. Create a simple one-page content marketing strategy which
has your goals, metrics, mission statement, target audiences, editorial ideas, frequency, and channel management plans.
10.Get specialist training and support in creating great content that has the six attributes, without which you will just waste
your precious time and money.
My 10 departing best practice tips.

40. @concentricdots 40
Thank you! Let’s Connect!
Questions & discussion welcome after the show,
or via social media
Free, Basic member tools
Managing Digital Marketing 2015 report
Managing Customer Experiences 2015 report
Sample planning templates
Planning infographics
www.smartinsights.com/membership
Premium, Expert member learning
7 Step Guide To Content Marketing
e-Learning Toolkit
www.smartinsights.com/membership/expert-member-reasons
DMX 2016 Personal Discount! Code: SIDMX20 - this is a
20% discount on the Annual Professional Expert level, for first
year of membership.
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/shbateman
https://www.facebook.com/groups/concentricdots.membersclub/
http://twitter.com/concentricdots
http://www.slideshare.net/stepbate
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