Some businesses and marketers get hung up on the wrong metrics, particularly when it comes to their blog. We are offering a nice digital marketing Course in Coimbatore

The key to perfect content marketing is understanding existing intent and anticipating future intent, and then, creating the content “assets” needed to address that intent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In our Freshbooks example, a customer who's deep in the funnel might have the intent to compare Freshbooks to Quickbooks.

This content asset addresses that intent:

And you’ll have to run paid traffic to your content to maximize your results or you risk leaving money on the table as Molly explains:

The truth is the most lucrative content assets you’ll create (if you have an existing business) are assets that meet intent at the bottom and middle of the funnel. Optimize for this existing bottom and middle of funnel intent before going to work on generating awareness at the top of the funnel with an expensive and time-consuming blog roll out.

That’s not to diminish the power of a business blog. Over the last 24 months, we’ve been adding content assets (articles and podcasts) at the top of the funnel and we’ve increased website traffic (think awareness) by 1053%.

That said, the quick wins in the content marketing game are in the middle and bottom of the funnel.

3. Perfect Content Marketing Is Ascension Focused:

Failure to provide an ascension path from every piece of content you create isn’t just bad marketing—it’s a bad user experience.

Smart content marketers anticipate the next logical intent and remove as much friction as possible to create a clear path to conversion.

In our Freshbooks pricing page example, notice that Freshbooks has created a clear ascension path to a "Risk-Free Trial" of the software.

In blog content, prospects can be given the opportunity to opt-in with their email address to get more information about a topic.

Check out this ascension offer embedded in a blog post. Clicking on this banner ad will take the prospect to a landing page to enter their email address and ascend to a lead: They get more information about a topic they are interested in. You get a lead.

4. Perfect Content Marketing is Segmented

You can run surveys and polls until you're blue in the face. But you won’t know what people are truly interested in until they give you their money or time.

When a prospect visits a piece of content (spends time) they have raised their hand and indicated interest. And, because of the magic of ad retargeting you can follow up with these prospects with a relevant ascension offer without even acquiring their contact information.

5. Perfect Content Marketing Is Cross-Channel

Perfect content marketers publish content that meets intent in any channel where groups of prospects are searching for and sharing content including:

• Website/blog
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• YouTube

Chances are a single content asset that could be published across numerous channels to maximize exposure.

For instance, could that video demo of your product be republished on your YouTube channel as Cuisinart has done here?

(If you’re wondering, "Who in the hell would watch that boring video?" the answer is anyone interested in buying a coffee grinder and, particularly, anyone interested in buying THAT coffee grinder. Anecdotally... I bought that coffee grinder after watching that demo just a few weeks ago. The grinder does a great job grinding coffee and that video does a great job at cross-channel content marketing at the bottom of the funnel.)

Can that article on your blog be repurposed as a webinar? Can that podcast become a written article for LinkedIn Pulse?

Perfect Content Marketing Is Avatar-Based:

Last, but certainly not least, perfect content marketing assets are produced to satisfy the intent of your customer avatars. A content asset can satisfy the intent of multiple avatars or it can be published to target a single avatar.

At Digital Marketer, for example, we produced an article to raise awareness (top of the funnel) for our marketing certification programs. This article was specifically targeted to our "Employee" avatar who has the intent of acquiring skills that will land them a better job.

Content Marketing Planning: The Content Campaign:

To execute perfect content marketing, you need a plan.

At Digital Marketer, we make this plan at the offer level using a spreadsheet called a Content Campaign Plan.

Content Marketing Success Metrics:

How do measure the success of your content marketing tactics?

Traffic by Channel:

At the top of the funnel, design your marketing to raise awareness for your business, brands, and products. Measure traffic from channels like Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

Net New MQL's:

Measure the number of leads generated in the middle of the funnel that requires further nurturing before they are ready to make a purchase.

Conversion Rate:

When content marketing is done correctly, it generates traffic to lead forms and product pages. Measure the conversion rate (Page Visits/Conversions) on lead forms, product pages, and other calls-to-action.

Net New SQL's:

Measure the number of leads consuming content at the bottom of the funnel (demos, customer stories, etc.), indicating they're ready to buy.

Relevant Roles in Content Marketing:

Three different departments should be proficient at and understand the role of email marketing.

Marketing:

Content marketing is a foundational discipline affecting your search, social, email, and advertising. Every marketer involved in your digital strategy should be well versed in content marketing.

Sales:

According to Harvard Business Review, the average buyer is 57% of the way through the sales process before they engage with a sales representative.

Instead of contacting your sales team your prospects are consuming your content. Salespeople who understand content marketing can work in conjunction with your marketing team to create content that closes deals.

Public Relations:

The modern-day PR team must understand how the content they produce fits into the larger content, social, and search marketing strategy.

The Lingo You'll Use as a Content Marketer:

Top-of-Funnel (TOFU) Content:

Content designed to raise awareness for your business, brands, and products. This content is delivered through several channels including blogs, podcasts and video hosting platforms like YouTube.

Middle-of-Funnel (MOFU) Content:

Content designed to generate leads and move the prospect through the evaluation stage. Content in the middle of the funnel often takes the form of a Lead Magnet.

Lead Magnet:

An irresistible bribe offering a specific chunk of value to a prospect in exchange for their contact information. The goal of the Lead Magnet is to maximize the number of targeted leads you are getting for an offer.

Bottom-of-Funnel (BOFU) Content:

Content designed to convert a prospect into a customer by providing the information needed to make an informed purchase decision. We are offering a nice digital marketing training in Coimbatore. The bottom of the funnel content includes webinars, product demonstrations, and customer stories.