Audience Research and Segmentation [Building a Content Marketing Strategy, Live] [Video]

💥 Join TOFU, the premier content marketing & SEO community with 2,500++ members, for FREE: http://JoinTOFU.co

—

*Summary*

Tyler Hakes outlines his week-long project to build a content marketing strategy, focusing on customer persona research, strategy development, and content ideation. He highlights challenges for mid-market and startup content leaders, such as aligning content with goals, managing resources, and using AI tools. Key themes include justifying content marketing’s value, maintaining quality, and balancing SEO with brand messaging. Hakes identifies two buyer personas: mid-market leaders seeking efficient solutions and early-stage companies experimenting with AI-driven content. He also reviews the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for Optimist as a content marketing agency.

*Key Takeaways*

• Building a content marketing strategy involves customer persona research, channel research, strategy development, tactical execution, and content ideation.
• Mid-market content leaders manage the content department, collaborate with cross-functional teams, focus on SEO and growth, and optimize content workflows.
• Challenges for content leaders include aligning content with internal goals, convincing higher-ups of its value, maintaining quality at scale, managing external writers, and protecting budgets through reporting.
• Goals for content leaders include balancing measurable and unattributable content, aligning content with SEO and brand messaging, and leveraging data to improve strategy.
• Optimist’s strengths are in freelance talent, scalable processes, and high-quality content creation, while its weaknesses include a premium price point and limited expertise in technical SEO and audio/video content.
• Opportunities for Optimist involve expanding into audio and video content, with threats being the rise of AI in content creation and evolving SEO practices.

*Key Moments*

[00:00] Introduction and Setting Up
[13:11] Customer Persona Research
[27:19] The Role of a Mid-Market Content Leader
[39:21] Goals for a Mid-Market Content Leader
[46:06] Worries for a Mid-Market Content Leader
[57:45] Balancing Measurable and Unattributable Content
[01:21:57] Managing External Writers and Agencies
[01:29:50] Leveraging Data to Improve Content Strategy
[02:07:14] Balancing Quality and Efficiency
[02:13:07] The Role of AI in Streamlining Processes
[02:18:15] Challenges and Solutions for Startups
[02:25:07] The Need for Efficient and Cost-Effective Content Solutions
[02:36:08] The Rise of AI in Content Creation and the Evolving Nature of SEO
[02:48:47] Helping Content Leaders Become Strategic Enablers

*About Tyler Hakes*

Tyler has been working in content marketing and SEO for over a decade. He’s worked in corporate roles, for agencies, and previously ran growth for a VC-funded startup. The team was able to scale from 0 traffic to a stream of more than 100,000 targeted visitors per month–and over 1 million total website users–within about 1 year of launch. They achieved this organic growth almost entirely through content, SEO, and social media.

In 2016, he founded Optimist, a full-service content marketing agency. As strategy director and principal, Tyler works with startups, SaaS companies, and other organizations to build sustainable growth with strategic content marketing and SEO.