April 19, 2022

Stop Losing MQLs, with Maia Morgan Wells

In this episode, Benji talks to Maia Morgan Wells, Senior Content Marketing Manager at Act-On and host of The Marketing Hero Podcast.

Maia explains the power of having your team own a couple of key verticals and breaks down how you can use content clusters to force alignment around those verticals.

Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:17.359 Conversations from the front lines and marketing. This is be tob growth. Welcome 2 00:00:17.399 --> 00:00:20.320 back to be tob growth. I'm your host, Benjie Block, and today 3 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:24.760 I am joined by a new friend, my Morgan Wells. She is the 4 00:00:24.839 --> 00:00:29.760 senior content marketing manager at act on. My were so happy to have you 5 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:32.600 here. Thanks for having me, Benjie. So, before I take us 6 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:37.000 to our our main conversation today, I have to start us here because it's 7 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:40.840 not too often that on the podcast I actually interview a fellow podcast host, 8 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:46.039 so I want to know my what's like your favorite part of getting to host 9 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:50.399 a podcast and maybe, like what's been your biggest learning since you've been hosting? 10 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:54.679 I love hosting podcast one because I just like to talk in general, 11 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:59.079 so it's perfect for me to be hosting a show like the marketing hero podcast. 12 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:02.200 been doing about eighteen months now, and I think the biggest thing I've 13 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:03.920 learned, it's a small thing, I guess, but for me it's been 14 00:01:03.959 --> 00:01:08.480 big to not script out your podcast too much. I think at the beginning 15 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:11.840 I was really concerned about making sure I asked all the questions I wanted to 16 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:17.200 ask and prep my guests, you know, accordingly, and I feel like 17 00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:21.760 the first few guests I had really wrote out their answers and it seemed robotic 18 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:26.040 when the recording came out. So that's been a little nugget that I've learned 19 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:30.519 that's made my podcasting experience a lot better. I think the conversation stations come 20 00:01:30.519 --> 00:01:34.079 out better and honestly, the last few interviews I've done have gotten a lot 21 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:38.120 deeper into, you know, issues of diversity and inclusion and how do you 22 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:42.519 become a leader and going beyond the tactical stuff a little bit. So that's 23 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:45.439 been really, really fun to learn. And Yeah, I just love doing 24 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:48.920 it. I love meeting people that are way smarter than me and talking to 25 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:52.879 them about marketing and specifically about SASS marketing, because that's what I do in 26 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:56.719 my daytoday job, and so getting to talk to some of my heroes and 27 00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:59.840 nerd out with them a little bit has just been an awesome experience. Yeah, 28 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:04.079 I always say with podcasting, to me, making sure you have the 29 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:07.759 right questions to start and prompt the conversation is wonderful, but being willing to 30 00:02:07.800 --> 00:02:13.039 go down the rabbit trails with your guest is where the greatest parts of the 31 00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:15.639 episode come right. So like yes, you did your research, yes, 32 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:19.080 you did your homework. You got some questions right now. But, like, 33 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:21.479 I love what you said there. You don't want to be too scripted, 34 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:23.960 and so really glad to be chatting with you today. And we're not 35 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:29.840 talking about podcasting on this episode really at all, because you are in a 36 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:34.719 newer role, lots of new faces and the organization at large, and there's 37 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:38.439 a lot of that you're currently working on right now, really focused on brand 38 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:43.919 messaging and positioning, right. So maybe give us a brief rundown on what 39 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:46.240 you're working on? My sure. So, as you said in your brief 40 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:52.599 introduction, I lead content marketing at act on and the foundation for what I 41 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:55.919 do as a content marketer comes from the brand's position. HMM, if you 42 00:02:55.960 --> 00:03:01.240 don't have a specific brand positioning Guy Messaging Guide, you know, it comes 43 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:06.039 down to who are we as a company? Who are we as a brand? 44 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:08.159 If you don't know the answer to that question, how can you possibly 45 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:13.719 come up with an effective content strategy? Right? So, coming up with 46 00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:19.439 and defining really well who it is you are as a company and what it 47 00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:24.159 is that you're offering to whom is extremely important to provide the foundation for what 48 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:29.479 we do as marketers every day. HMM. And a key piece of the 49 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:31.919 strategy you guys are working on now that maybe it sound like, was maybe 50 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:36.800 even a little new to you, but it's basing all of your content around 51 00:03:36.840 --> 00:03:39.840 a couple key verticals. Is that right? How does that work? Yes, 52 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:45.280 a very new and exciting approach to what we're doing at act on is 53 00:03:45.319 --> 00:03:51.599 identifying and going after some really key verticals for our product. And where that 54 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:57.960 came out of is partly from the exercise and brand positioning. Because to answer 55 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:00.199 who are we? To whom? You know, it's that to whom part 56 00:04:00.360 --> 00:04:05.319 right. And so the exercise really started with looking at who are our most 57 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:12.840 successful customers. Where do we really find success? What Industries gravitate towards act 58 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:17.199 on as a marketing automation solution? And that comes from collaborating with the director 59 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:21.959 of Product Marketing, with our new crro you know, and some of the 60 00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:27.600 other executives that have a really great handle on who do we serve best? 61 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:31.800 And from that we identified three verticals that were now focusing in on, not 62 00:04:31.879 --> 00:04:35.639 that we're completely, you know, re charting everything that we're doing, and 63 00:04:35.720 --> 00:04:40.720 they're still going to be thought leadership you know, helpful content on how to 64 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:45.040 those types of things always need to be there as a foundation for good marketing. 65 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:48.839 But, you know, pivoting and talking more towards these specific industries is 66 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:51.879 one way that we're going to try to reach the goal of being a big 67 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:57.839 name, a big player in those specific verticals and and really going from that 68 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:01.439 underdog sort of positioning that we currently sort of have as a brand into, 69 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:08.079 you know, this is the best in class marketing automation solution for this particular 70 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:11.240 industry. You know, one of them that we were heavily going after and 71 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:15.519 that we're very successful in so far is financial services. So banks, credit 72 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:19.759 unions, financial advisors, wealth management, those types of companies do really well 73 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:25.279 with act on. So part of it is who does well with the solution? 74 00:05:25.319 --> 00:05:29.360 How does that solution provide value in that industry? And then, you 75 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:34.639 know, conversely, who are we in that conversation as well? So focusing 76 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:39.720 in on these verticals has really provided us sort of like a guard reels, 77 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:43.279 you know, so that we can plan the right activities and marketing to really 78 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:47.839 hit the right people. So you mentioned three there and then gave us a 79 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:50.879 specific on one, which is the financial services what are the other two that 80 00:05:50.920 --> 00:05:55.600 you are are focusing on vertically? The other two right now are high tech 81 00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:59.639 manufacturing. We recently did a great case study with Hitachi, which is one 82 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:02.720 of our customers in the EMEA region, and so really focusing in on high 83 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:09.439 tech manufacturing and then also business services. So another area that does really well 84 00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:15.319 using a specialized marketing automation solution like act on are people that provide be to 85 00:06:15.399 --> 00:06:18.240 be consulting, you know, in other types of business services. So those 86 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.879 are the three were focusing in on right now and having a really great time 87 00:06:21.959 --> 00:06:27.120 kind of figuring out the balance of the general thought leadership content, the how 88 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:31.120 to, the inspirational content that we sort of always need to do, and 89 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:36.680 then how do we then sprinkle in articles and and podcast episodes and other things, 90 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:42.560 webinars and things like that for people in these specific industries? And it's 91 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:45.759 interesting right now because I'm trying to figure out, as a content person, 92 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:47.800 what's the right mix of that, because I don't think, honestly that if 93 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:51.319 I'm, you know, let's say I'm a CMO or even a marketing manager 94 00:06:51.399 --> 00:06:55.959 at a bank, I don't need every single article that I read to be 95 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:00.800 specifically about you know, marketing automation for bank marketers. I I don't think 96 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:02.879 we need to get that keyword happy. You know, in the situation, 97 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:09.040 what is the right mix of providing specific resources for those people that relate to, 98 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:12.920 let's say, email regulations that all banks need to follow? There's a 99 00:07:12.920 --> 00:07:16.319 regulation called findra right that banks have to follow if they're doing email marketing. 100 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:20.079 Has To do with consumer privacy protections. So it's a little bit of a 101 00:07:20.199 --> 00:07:24.160 niche kind of thing that we need to be aware of as marketers, but 102 00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:28.160 I don't think it's a hundred percent niche to down, if that makes sense. 103 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:30.759 So I'm in the process right now planning out the content for q three, 104 00:07:30.839 --> 00:07:34.560 Q fur. What what's the right mix of that? So that's partly 105 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:39.439 on the content side. So we are looking at those three industry verticals and 106 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:43.480 planning out our next moves and industry partners that we might want to get involved 107 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:46.600 with at this time too. So I want to ask a follow up question 108 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:50.480 there, because it's I mean three verticals is probably close to the Max that 109 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:54.959 someone would pick. Once you get beyond that, I imagine that starts to 110 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:59.319 get immensely complicated. But even with three you're going to be dealing with some 111 00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:03.040 complexities. So within your content strategy, how are you thinking about kind of 112 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:07.000 splitting your time or trying to become like a thought leader in each of those 113 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:11.079 three spaces? How do you think about that? Man, that really is 114 00:08:11.079 --> 00:08:13.759 a great question and that's something I'm working on right now and our whole team 115 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:16.720 is actually working on, and not only in the marketing site. We also 116 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:22.160 are involving stakeholders, from sales stakeholders from product even you know, what are 117 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:26.360 the features that are going to become important as we really pivot into these industries, 118 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:28.480 not that we haven't worked in them before, but really honing in and 119 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:31.519 going okay, we're not going to be everything to everyone, not right now. 120 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:35.879 We really need to focus on doing a really great job in these three 121 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:39.799 particular industries. So the way that we're starting is general. Part of that 122 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:45.799 is driven by Seo Keyword Research as we start to update content on our website. 123 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:48.679 Right. But it's very rare that somebody's going to type in according to 124 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:52.279 seem rush right or some of our other tools like Mas. If you're doing 125 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:56.600 that actual keyword research for SEO and you're typing that in, you're researching that 126 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:03.399 it's very rare that somebody's going to be searching marketing automation software for credit unions. 127 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:07.960 Right. There's a very low search volume for that. You would you 128 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:09.279 guys can look it up. If you got a subscription to sem rush aw 129 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:11.559 you might you go it. Just looked that up for fun. The search 130 00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:16.279 volumes low and if the search volume is so low that you're really not going 131 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:20.360 to draw in a lot of organic traffic, then you start to question what's 132 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:22.519 the point of focusing there, right. And so, you know, one 133 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:26.120 of the things that we've done is realized very early on in this process that 134 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:31.519 we do need to start a little bit broad. So instead of focusing in 135 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:35.080 on, let's say, making a pillar page or a website page for marketing 136 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:41.559 automation SOFTWARE FOR BANK MARKETERS, we're just doing bank marketing as our main, 137 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:45.639 you know industry page, because people actually search for that and it is a 138 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:50.279 place that we can provide valuable content for people in that industry. People might 139 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:56.320 be looking for advice and expertise on marketing in general for banks or for high 140 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:00.360 tech manufacturing and the different you know industry verticals we just talked about. So 141 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:03.320 we're starting general and it's not only because of the Seo Keyword, research, 142 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:07.240 Bingee, it's also because we need to start somewhere. We don't just want 143 00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:13.360 to wait and have like analysis paralysis. Right. That's kind of difficult in 144 00:10:13.399 --> 00:10:16.879 marketing because we always want to have data informed strategies, but we also want 145 00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:20.519 to do along the way. So what we're doing is we're starting with the 146 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:26.799 general and then moving into more specific topics as we start gathering data. People 147 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:30.960 that come in through that page, people that might come in through PPC campaigns 148 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:33.559 around those keywords, for example. Where do they go? What happens with 149 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:37.840 them and what type of content helps them on their customer journey to really make 150 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:39.960 that decision. And you know what, at the end of the day we 151 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:45.519 might find out that, you know, the General Marketing Automation Quick Start Guide, 152 00:10:45.639 --> 00:10:48.240 you know, is one of our most popular ebooks, for example. 153 00:10:48.279 --> 00:10:52.200 We may find out that that is the resource that Credit Union marketers love to 154 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:58.440 read and we don't need necessarily a resource specific to the nuances of Credit Union 155 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:03.919 marketing. Maybe that's better done with a Webinar that invites people from that industry 156 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:07.399 to see some speakers that they look up to in their industry. So that's 157 00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:09.960 a long answer to your question, but we're starting general and then we're going 158 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:13.320 to get more specific as we get more data and as we really reveal what 159 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:18.279 kind of topics are valuable for the specific people were going after. Yeah, 160 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:22.120 let me ask you one more question on the vertical. So do you see 161 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:26.320 the play towards these three as a way to kind of stop losing mqls or 162 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:31.000 to maybe generate more ideal leads? What was that kind of May behind the 163 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:37.120 scenes conversation or what pushed you in this direction? Well, I think part 164 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:39.960 of the motivation is that little phrase I said before, which is it's hard 165 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.240 to be all things to all people, and so if you really decide who 166 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:46.440 you are and decide who you're helping, it really helps to put those guard 167 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:50.399 reels up for planning on all levels, from top of the funnel, middle 168 00:11:50.440 --> 00:11:54.200 of the funnel, all the way through the pipeline. You know who are 169 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:56.840 we and how do we talk to these specific people? And so that goes 170 00:11:56.879 --> 00:12:01.399 for somebody like me WHO's, you know, running content marketing. It goes 171 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.000 for people like some of my colleagues who are doing social media or webinars. 172 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:09.399 Where are they really interacting online and what watering holes. I don't really love 173 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:13.600 that term, but watering holes, where are these people hanging out? It 174 00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:18.200 helps us to really focus our energy a little bit more into these different verticals 175 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:22.120 and, like you said, so that we are drawing in the right type 176 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:24.759 of leads, as I think sometimes a problem in marketing is we love to 177 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:28.919 see those metrics, right. We love to see thousands of leads coming into 178 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:33.200 our you know, sales force or wherever we're collecting leads, something like act 179 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:35.159 on. We love to see those numbers in the thousands every month, right. 180 00:12:35.399 --> 00:12:37.720 It's kind of gratifying. It's like, look how many people filled out 181 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:41.960 my form. But if those are not the right people that are a fit 182 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:46.240 for your solution, you're going to be wasting Your Business Development Reps time, 183 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:48.759 you know, your SDR's time, being on the phone call seeing if that's 184 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:52.039 a well qualified person. And this is mostly for the B Tob side, 185 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:58.200 right where we're really qualifying leads. It's a longer sales process if you're sending 186 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:01.600 mqls through that are really not mqls. You know, maybe it's just you 187 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:05.480 know, we've we had one really surprising issue come up when we were talking 188 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:09.759 to our sdrs well, how come these mqols aren't moving on to become sqls? 189 00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:13.120 What are you rejecting them? What's the problem? And in a couple 190 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:18.399 of cases the the lead didn't understand that we were not a crm. That 191 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:22.879 act on is specifically a marketing automation platform, and that's a failure on marketings 192 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:28.000 part, right, because we should have very clear messaging that of who we 193 00:13:28.039 --> 00:13:31.840 are what we are. So I'd know if that's necessarily only related to honing 194 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:35.440 in on some industries. You know, that's a messaging thing overall and we're 195 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:39.519 working on all of these things at the same time. But I thought that 196 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:43.200 was a really interesting problem of wow, like it's a lack of understanding of 197 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:46.960 the product at all, right, and so that's definitely not a call that 198 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:48.320 you want to spend time on. Then you know at that point in the 199 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:54.000 sales side. So it is helping us to first identify that ICP in the 200 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:58.200 first place, like who is our ideal customer? And then what I always 201 00:13:58.200 --> 00:14:03.279 like to ask myself on the marketing side is what does that particular person need 202 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:05.639 to know in order to move to the next stage and be confident with our 203 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:09.559 company? So do they need to know how the product works? Do they 204 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:11.600 need to know the features? Do they need to be inspired with what other 205 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:15.440 people have done? Do they need to know that we've got great reviews on 206 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:18.960 Gtwo like, what is it that that person needs to know at that moment 207 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:22.480 in the customer journey in order to move them forward? And I think if 208 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:28.519 we can answer that as content marketers, as product marketers, whatever part of 209 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:31.320 the marketing equation you're in, as long as you're thinking about that, I 210 00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:35.159 think it really helps you to better qualified leads and give better leads to the 211 00:14:35.159 --> 00:14:41.120 sales team. Hey, everybody, Olivia here. As a member of the 212 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:46.039 sweet fish sales team. I wanted to take a second and share something that 213 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:52.159 makes us insanely more efficient. Our team uses lead Iq. So, for 214 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:54.120 those of you who are in sales or sales ups, let me give you 215 00:14:54.159 --> 00:15:00.759 some context. You know how long gathering contact data can take so long and 216 00:15:00.840 --> 00:15:05.080 with lead Iq, what once took us four hours to do now it takes 217 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:09.360 us just one. That is seventy five percent more efficient. We are so 218 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:15.200 much quicker with outbound prospecting and organizing our campaigns so much easier than before. 219 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:18.559 I suggest you guys check it out as well, you can find them at 220 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:26.480 lead iqcom. That's La d iqcom already. Let's jump back into the show. 221 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:30.000 What is it that that person needs to know at that moment in the 222 00:15:30.039 --> 00:15:33.600 customer journey in order to move them forward? And I think if we can 223 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:37.960 answer that as content marketers, as product marketers, whatever part of the marketing 224 00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:41.519 equation you're in, as long as you're thinking about that, I think it 225 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:46.679 really helps you to better qualified leads and give better leads to the sales team. 226 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:48.679 HMM, and that's where I want to go now because I love that 227 00:15:48.759 --> 00:15:54.039 question. What do they need to know? And so you have these verticals 228 00:15:54.039 --> 00:15:58.159 to find and then it goes obviously that's going to begin to really inform your 229 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:00.960 content strategy. You're saying you're going to start a little bit more general. 230 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:07.679 You found in previous jobs that you've been in this idea of content clusters to 231 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:12.559 be particularly helpful. So I wonder if we could kind of push these two 232 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:18.000 things together in a sense, right and take this vertical, informed content strategy 233 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:22.639 and then these content clusters and spend the rest of our time together giving that 234 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:26.399 away to our audience to go hey, here's a different way of maybe thinking 235 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:30.879 about it. You know where our ICEPS, you know who they are, 236 00:16:30.919 --> 00:16:33.000 and now we're going to create this kind of content cluster around that. So 237 00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:37.679 let's let's start here. My would you walk us through what a content cluster 238 00:16:37.879 --> 00:16:41.080 is? Sure, and this is going to be the play along portion of 239 00:16:41.080 --> 00:16:45.279 the podcast episode today, because you can grab your Google Dog, get your 240 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:48.840 notebook out, your Google dog, whatever you want to take notes on, 241 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:51.639 because we're going to do this together and if you want to pause to come 242 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:55.000 back, you should do that. But an all in all seriousness, a 243 00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:57.039 content cluster is just what it sounds like. It's a cluster of content. 244 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:00.639 And if you don't like the word cluster, you can say, you know, 245 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:03.039 hub and spoke. There's different ways that people say it. Our pillar, 246 00:17:03.119 --> 00:17:07.160 content, hubben spokes is another way. So really what we're starting with 247 00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:11.359 is the center of that. So what is the pillar? What is the 248 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:15.319 center of the the hub? Right, so, in most cases that's going 249 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:18.799 to be a big long web page, website page that is, this is 250 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:22.839 very important, linked in your main navigation on your website. It cannot be 251 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:26.319 an orphan page that lives on your website. It can be in a dropdown, 252 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:29.960 it can be in a sub menu, but it needs to be in 253 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:33.920 the main navigation of your website and it's important for reasons I will talk about 254 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:38.799 later as we get into the master of all Seo and all organic traffic, 255 00:17:38.839 --> 00:17:42.480 which is Google. Like this is all to please google. So at the 256 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:45.720 middle of that is going to be your pillar page, and we can think 257 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:48.839 about this together right now. So in the case that we've been talking about 258 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:52.880 today, we're focusing on industry verticals, and so the way that I've planned 259 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:57.240 the content clusters for right now, for my current position, is based around 260 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:02.119 the verticals. So at the center that is going to be the industry vertical 261 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:04.599 website page. So for us is going to be, you know, your 262 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:11.200 ultimate guide to bank marketing, you know, A to Z guide to X 263 00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:15.359 Y Z. So it can either be industry or, if you're playing along 264 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:18.200 right now, it can be a type of service that you offer, it 265 00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:22.160 can be a category of product that you offer. And so I've done this 266 00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:26.440 before and a previous job I worked at an agency called clear pivot, and 267 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:32.079 clear pivot wanted to get more clients in the SASS industry. They had a 268 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:36.279 lot of success of medical device marketing and other industries and had started to kind 269 00:18:36.279 --> 00:18:40.039 of trickle in with a few clients from the SASS industry and really wanted to 270 00:18:40.039 --> 00:18:45.000 make a concerted effort to pull in more leads for SASS. So we created, 271 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:48.960 just like I was saying, the ultimate guide to SASS marketing, and 272 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:52.720 it's a website page that's linked in the main navigation and then when you navigate 273 00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:55.720 to that page, it is literally everything you need to know. If you 274 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:59.480 were trying to, you know, get a degree in SASS marketing by reading 275 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:02.680 one website page, that should be your goal. It's like a five thousand 276 00:19:02.680 --> 00:19:07.920 to seven thousand word massive website page on gated and you go through everything you 277 00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:11.279 need to know, so whether that's a certain type of product that you offer, 278 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:15.200 a certain service that you offer, a different audience that you're trying to 279 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:18.400 hit. So you pick one. For us right now we're picking three to 280 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:21.960 focus on, and the main part of that is the middle, the pillar 281 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:26.519 page. So that's that long everything you need to know page. The key 282 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:30.640 to this, then, is building out the cluster around that. You're going 283 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:33.519 to plan out the topics that are going to be important for your audience to 284 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:37.720 know. So going back to that question for yourself, what does this person 285 00:19:37.880 --> 00:19:42.240 need? To know at this time in order to move forward in the process? 286 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:45.720 Do they need to know specifically about social media marketing in order to feel 287 00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:49.640 comfortable? Do they need to know use cases that other people have, you 288 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:55.319 know, experience? Do they need to know about how your solution helps them 289 00:19:55.319 --> 00:19:57.599 stay compliant with industry regulations? You know in the case that we're doing right 290 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:00.400 now. So if you can imagine the s folks going out, that's going 291 00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:04.359 to be a bunch of different blog posts, it's going to be podcast episodes, 292 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:08.920 webinars, anything like that, videos, any of the content that's around 293 00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:14.960 that, you'll start to plan out and and create a list of content that 294 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:18.559 that person needs to know in order to become a sales qualified lead, pretty 295 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:22.240 much. So that's the goal in that content cluster. This is also hugely 296 00:20:22.279 --> 00:20:29.839 important. Each of those assets need to be linked to from the pillar page 297 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:33.920 and needs to link from itself back to the pillar page. So if you're 298 00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:38.000 imagine you're writing a blog about some specific topic, make sure that you're specifically 299 00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:42.400 linking back to that pillar page and that every asset in that circle links back 300 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:45.599 to the pillar page. That's where you're actually creating, cody. Yeah, 301 00:20:45.640 --> 00:20:49.079 that's where you're creating the cluster. It's not a cluster if there's no links 302 00:20:49.079 --> 00:20:53.400 people. So you have to create the actual cluster and that's where you start 303 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:57.839 to develop that authority for the page, for the main pillar page that Google 304 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:02.240 is going to start to send traffic to. And now I mentioned the example 305 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:06.680 of that ultimate guide, disass marketing, for the agency I worked with and 306 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:11.920 in six months of one putting up the pillar page and then building a content 307 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:15.240 cluster around it, I think we ended up with like twenty five different blogs. 308 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:18.440 You know, it is like how to choose the best agency. You 309 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:21.960 know how to choose the best SASS marketing agency. What are the best Sass 310 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.359 marketing metrics to pay attention to right so you can hear those keywords SASS marketing 311 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:30.240 metrics, Ass Marketing Agency and so on. Right SASS marketing examples, those 312 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:33.240 start to become your, you know, your leafs on the edge of your 313 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:37.960 flower for loop, using the act on example, and linking to each other. 314 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:42.400 And that started to create so much organic traffic for that main page that 315 00:21:42.440 --> 00:21:49.079 we tripled, and I'm saying tripled, our organic leads on that topic in 316 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:55.359 six months from building that out. It really really worked and I know that 317 00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:59.240 it's hard to judge exactly what the Google Algorithm is going to do, but 318 00:21:59.319 --> 00:22:03.839 I'm telling you, planning and executing your content with this content cluster idea one 319 00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:07.720 really helps you to provide value to that ICP. It answers all the questions 320 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:11.880 they have and provides them all the social proof that they need and really starts 321 00:22:11.880 --> 00:22:17.160 guiding them through that customer journey to hit that get a demo or schedule my 322 00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:19.880 consultation, you know, whatever that called. Action is to hit that. 323 00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:23.240 And one small little thing that I'll just add to the end of that is 324 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:27.279 on your pillar page, you want to have all the content totally on gated 325 00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:32.119 on there, but you also want to have a small form, floating form 326 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:33.519 if you want, that scrolls down the page with you, where you can 327 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:37.119 get a download of that same information as a PDF. And you would be 328 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:40.880 surprised, even though you can read all that right there on the page without 329 00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:44.480 given up any info, so many people fill out that form and that's where 330 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:48.279 you start to get all those leads coming in because people are downloading that ultimate 331 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:51.839 guide to x, Y Z. and then just another I know I'm saying 332 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:53.680 I said, one more small point, but another small point on that is 333 00:22:55.079 --> 00:22:59.799 make yourself a landing page as well. That's specifically for PPC. For that, 334 00:22:59.960 --> 00:23:02.759 because this is not only about organic traffic, right. It's not only 335 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:07.599 about SEO value, it's also about providing yourself a ton of content that you 336 00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:11.440 can then use for other stuff. Social Media topics that you know, giveaways 337 00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:15.119 after your Webinar, follow up by email, put it in your automated email 338 00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:19.359 programs, all that great stuff. So another tip for you is use this 339 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:23.440 for PPC, use this for paid social programs. Say, Hey, get 340 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:26.960 the ultimate guide disass marketing, get the ultimate guide to bedb grows, you 341 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:30.839 know, whatever it is, and have a separate landing page that doesn't give 342 00:23:30.920 --> 00:23:34.279 up all the information that is just hey, get our ultimate guide, typical 343 00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:40.559 landing page. So that would be my kind of detailed explanation of a content 344 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:42.480 cluster and I think you know, if you were writing some stuff down, 345 00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:45.440 you probably already have half your cluster planned out for right now that you can 346 00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:48.440 do so. I hope that helps. No, I think it helps a 347 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:52.839 lot of some some follow up questions that I want to ask. Their one 348 00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:59.200 would be, as you're thinking of again, this Combo of verticals meeting the 349 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:02.920 content clusters. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I could see one of 350 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:06.880 the issues being in my immediate way that my content strategy goes. It could 351 00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:11.480 get a little to marketing heavy if you're not careful. or it's like I 352 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:15.480 know the exact verticals. So now, instead of giving away just helpful content, 353 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:18.799 I'm giving away like use our service, use our service, use our 354 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:22.200 service. How is that something that you've run into where you're like, okay, 355 00:24:22.279 --> 00:24:26.240 I need to make sure that we're giving away helpful content and then also 356 00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:30.279 that we're meeting the expectation and then we're actually getting M quels from this. 357 00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:33.599 How do you think about that? That is a really good question and I 358 00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:37.519 think about that a lot because the main point of what I do is to 359 00:24:37.559 --> 00:24:41.799 be helpful and to provide value, and I think that one of the ways 360 00:24:41.799 --> 00:24:47.279 that we achieve that is to never say and we offer that with our service 361 00:24:47.319 --> 00:24:49.400 here at Blah Blah Blah company. Do not write that in your blog, 362 00:24:49.480 --> 00:24:53.319 but it's hard not to you. You have to stop yourself from that. 363 00:24:53.640 --> 00:24:56.759 The calls to action will come in the calls to action, the calls to 364 00:24:56.799 --> 00:25:00.680 action you are following you down the sidebar. You want to have an inline 365 00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:06.359 CTA inside that content every few you know, if you're writing seven thousand words, 366 00:25:06.599 --> 00:25:10.519 every couple thousand words thrown inline CTA in there. How you know the 367 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:15.039 context of your website is going to provide the opportunity to convert? You don't 368 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:18.519 have to say and by the way, we provide that service here at Blah 369 00:25:18.519 --> 00:25:23.160 Blah company. That is I think most people know that. That's super cheesy. 370 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:26.960 I feel like I don't want to throw sales people under the bus, 371 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:32.559 but I think when sales team get into the content conversation too much, that's 372 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:36.079 when you end up with that type of language. Or, let's say, 373 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:38.799 bless their hearts, a salesperson wants to contribute to content, or even if 374 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:45.039 it's like a solopreneur and they're doing everything themselves, it's like a compulsion to 375 00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:48.839 say that you know, and and you should demo our software because it does 376 00:25:48.920 --> 00:25:52.240 this for you. You know, save it for the CETA, save it 377 00:25:52.279 --> 00:25:56.480 for your PPC advertising. You know, rarely posted on social. It should 378 00:25:56.519 --> 00:25:59.000 be like maybe every couple months you say, Oh, and by the way, 379 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:00.759 we are actually a service that does some stuff. You know, it 380 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:06.720 should not be coming into the content conversation. Really at all. It really 381 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:11.119 should not be in the text of what you're offering, even like an ebook 382 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:14.240 or anything. It should, you know, have an ending page, you 383 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:15.599 know, like your back cover of your Ebook, so to speak, is 384 00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:18.839 going to be that called action. It is not going to be within the 385 00:26:18.839 --> 00:26:23.000 text of the Ebook if somebody wanted to just take the front cover and the 386 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:27.079 back cover off. That information should be solution agnostic, is what we call 387 00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:33.440 it. Be Solution Agnostic, be helpful right about topics that you don't even 388 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:37.880 serve with your service or you know, like we write about, for example, 389 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:41.279 SMS marketing regulations. We are not a legal service whatsoever, but hey, 390 00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:45.640 if you're doing SMS marketing, which is a tool that act on offers, 391 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:48.640 you might be wanting to be aware of that and here's some helpful content 392 00:26:48.680 --> 00:26:51.400 about that. And, by the way, we have any book on Best 393 00:26:51.400 --> 00:26:55.680 Practices for SMS which is in the CETA, not in the text of the 394 00:26:55.680 --> 00:27:00.480 blog. HMM. Yeah, it's, thinks, a crucial point. The 395 00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:03.319 other question I have is around if you have a, let's say, an 396 00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:10.480 industry vertical page, so it's your pillar content there, when you're linking to 397 00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:15.359 all of these blogs, might, as you're creating this content. Like, 398 00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:21.160 does that vertical page, as that pillar content, inform all the blogs you 399 00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:23.039 then create for the next quarter or so, or like Howard, how do 400 00:27:23.079 --> 00:27:26.440 you think about the timing of all of that and how much that one sort 401 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:30.839 of pillar page informs the rest of your content? It is an iterative process, 402 00:27:30.839 --> 00:27:33.799 to be sure of binge, because you want to, Yep, start 403 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:37.200 somewhere. You want to write about the basics. What are the benefits of 404 00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:41.680 this? What are the potential problems? How can marketing automation help? Those 405 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:45.759 types of things you know you're going to write about and then link to what 406 00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:48.960 you have so far. So if we already have a few blogs, you 407 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:53.359 know, a few Webinars, some case studies in these different industries, we're 408 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:57.359 not coming out a completely cold we do have, you know, some stuff. 409 00:27:57.400 --> 00:28:00.559 To start with, we did a content audit of these different industries. 410 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:03.880 You know, have ten blogs or so for each one of these industries already. 411 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:07.559 That's very specific. And then I have some thought leadership content that applies 412 00:28:07.640 --> 00:28:11.400 that people in these industries gravitate towards right. So what I'm going to do 413 00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:15.799 is, number one, start with. What is everything you need to know 414 00:28:15.960 --> 00:28:19.839 about XYZ topic. So again that ultimate guide to, the ADZ guide to. 415 00:28:21.160 --> 00:28:23.720 I know these titles seem a little bit overused. See if you can 416 00:28:23.720 --> 00:28:26.839 get more creative with that, but it does help you to just say what 417 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:30.160 it is. It is the ultimate guide to whatever that pillar page is on. 418 00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:33.000 So start with that. And what are the questions that people would be 419 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:36.440 asking? Again we're coming back to that same question. What do I need 420 00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:38.200 to know? So I need to know like, what is it, who 421 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:42.720 is it for? Why is it beneficial? How do I choose a partner? 422 00:28:42.759 --> 00:28:45.640 Maybe something like that, but not again, not. Here's how you 423 00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:49.960 choose me. Here's how you choose a partner. And then you talk about 424 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:55.400 the things that actually make you become the choice, but you don't actually say 425 00:28:55.440 --> 00:28:57.799 and I'm the choice. Right. You might subtly link to your product page 426 00:28:57.799 --> 00:29:03.319 in that paragraph or linked to your pricing page, but you know those types 427 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:04.759 of things. So those are going to be the general questions that are going 428 00:29:04.759 --> 00:29:07.920 to rule your outline. And then in that you're probably going to have some 429 00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:12.720 content that already applies that you're going to just literally hyperlink to those assets. 430 00:29:12.759 --> 00:29:15.319 And then yes, and then the second layer of that is, all right, 431 00:29:15.319 --> 00:29:18.279 where's our holes. You know. Okay, we had you know, 432 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:22.799 we didn't talk about linking to your arp in the manufacturing context. People have 433 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:27.079 ARP systems and they want to know if that links in with how does that 434 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:30.440 relate to marketing automation, like, for example, in this in this example. 435 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:33.319 So, oh, we don't have a blog about that. Well, 436 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:34.519 there we go. There's some topics that we need to write about. We 437 00:29:34.519 --> 00:29:38.839 start filling in the holes and then actually, that may even inform more of 438 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:41.359 what you need to add to the pillar page. So you're going to be 439 00:29:41.400 --> 00:29:45.880 kind of going back and forth between your supporting assets. Yeah, so you're 440 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:49.079 just looping it and you just were. The cool thing is that loop provides 441 00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:52.319 you with a road map for it could ride you with a road map for 442 00:29:52.359 --> 00:29:56.480 like years. You know, as I mentioned the product, the project that 443 00:29:56.519 --> 00:29:59.680 I set as an example, that was really successful. We worked on that 444 00:29:59.720 --> 00:30:03.440 and started to series olts after six months, but the company still, I 445 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:07.640 mean it's been almost a year since we really started that, maybe a year 446 00:30:07.640 --> 00:30:10.640 and a half since we started that, and they're still adding blog topics and 447 00:30:10.680 --> 00:30:14.319 adding to that page and then going back and adding images and going back and 448 00:30:14.359 --> 00:30:18.279 saying, Hey, here's how three different companies did this kind of approached to 449 00:30:18.359 --> 00:30:21.119 Sass marketing, and here's a screenshot of the email that we got, you 450 00:30:21.119 --> 00:30:23.319 know, and and adding to that so that page can get really, really 451 00:30:23.319 --> 00:30:29.559 big and it can really become the ultimate guide to whatever you're trying to talk 452 00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:32.839 about. All Right, here's how we're going to wrap up. I want 453 00:30:32.839 --> 00:30:37.920 to act like I'm dropping you into a new job. Okay, my so 454 00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:41.359 it's down the road. It's a new company. They have an established really 455 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:48.599 like this structure yet. So what are you doing when you're coming in to 456 00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:55.240 get started, whether it's knowing what you know now with the verticals and the 457 00:30:55.279 --> 00:31:00.759 clusters, like, what's that first action item on your list? Okay, 458 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:04.400 the very first thing that you have to do is look at the existing data. 459 00:31:04.559 --> 00:31:08.240 What is there, what has been working and what is not been working 460 00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:12.480 so far? That's a number one thing. And if we don't have a 461 00:31:12.519 --> 00:31:17.160 Google Pixel going on, if we don't have tracking going on in your company 462 00:31:17.160 --> 00:31:22.079 currently, you got to start that like yesterday. You should not be doing 463 00:31:22.119 --> 00:31:25.559 any marketing without tracking it. I think the audience for be to be growth 464 00:31:25.559 --> 00:31:29.799 already knows that. I think people are tracking their data right. So you 465 00:31:29.799 --> 00:31:32.079 know, the first thing I would do is show me the data. You 466 00:31:32.119 --> 00:31:34.240 know what is performing, what's not performing, and I would really like to 467 00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:40.279 see multitouch attribution on some of your best customers. What content did they find 468 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:42.119 helpful? Did they download an Ebook? Did they not? Did they go 469 00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:45.039 straight to the pricing page and then sql and they were a customer the next 470 00:31:45.119 --> 00:31:48.880 day? Great. You know, that really helps to inform where the holes 471 00:31:48.920 --> 00:31:52.759 are, where people are falling off. You know, do they visit your 472 00:31:52.759 --> 00:31:56.880 pricing page and then unsubscribed from your list immediately? You know what what is 473 00:31:56.920 --> 00:32:01.319 actually going on, because I think if you don't have a place to start, 474 00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:05.000 you have tould be able to go anywhere, right. So data is 475 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:08.640 the very first place I would start. If there are not any pillar pages 476 00:32:09.160 --> 00:32:14.400 happening, I would maybe start to identify what are some of the most important 477 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:17.000 categories of content that we might want to start to focus on. So, 478 00:32:17.079 --> 00:32:21.720 again, that could be a product category, it could be a services category, 479 00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:24.720 it could be an industry, for example, and oftentimes companies that I 480 00:32:24.759 --> 00:32:30.799 work with already have this like fifty percent the way they're this is not something 481 00:32:30.839 --> 00:32:32.480 that you have to start from scratch, and that's the really cool thing, 482 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:36.960 because it could seem overwhelming, like, oh my gosh, this whole pillar 483 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:39.920 page thing like that is crazy. Now you probably already have the page on 484 00:32:39.960 --> 00:32:43.680 your website. It's just not big enough, it's just not rich enough yet, 485 00:32:43.680 --> 00:32:46.400 it just doesn't have enough links from into it yet. So you probably 486 00:32:46.440 --> 00:32:50.440 already have that page. If it's a new company I'm coming into, they 487 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:54.200 probably already have some industries pages or some solutions pages or some product pages. 488 00:32:54.279 --> 00:32:59.279 Right. So let's analyze those. Let's look at some heat maps, let's 489 00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:01.599 look at some converts and data. Again, we're back to the data. 490 00:33:01.720 --> 00:33:07.079 How are those pages performing right now and what can we do to start improving 491 00:33:07.160 --> 00:33:10.839 them incrementally without completely overturning the whole ship? So it's something you can do 492 00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:15.960 incrementally. I mean even just last week I went on to our industries pages 493 00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.480 and just edited the language a little bit, you know, and then next 494 00:33:19.480 --> 00:33:22.480 week I'm going to start to do some more on that. And so it 495 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:25.160 can be just as a small step out of time. Add a blog post, 496 00:33:25.240 --> 00:33:29.160 link it back to the pillar page, link it from the pillar pach 497 00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:32.079 right, share that on social get some momentum going. Okay, now what's 498 00:33:32.119 --> 00:33:37.400 the next question people are asking and I think I'll end that with one of 499 00:33:37.400 --> 00:33:40.480 the most important things to do in that process is talk to your partners in 500 00:33:40.519 --> 00:33:45.960 sales. They're going to be able to inform the questions that they get asked 501 00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:47.960 over and over. They're going to be able to tell you what content is 502 00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:52.759 going to seem valuable to the people that they're talking to. Do not do 503 00:33:52.880 --> 00:33:55.960 marketing of any kind in a vacuum. You have to involve your partners and 504 00:33:57.039 --> 00:34:01.559 sales and really create this revenue engine where marketing and sales are pushing everything forward 505 00:34:01.640 --> 00:34:07.000 together, not separately, and you're going to get a lot farther. I 506 00:34:07.160 --> 00:34:12.679 love this conversation. I love the idea of combining these verticals with our content 507 00:34:12.840 --> 00:34:15.559 clusters so much here. Probably have a page full of notes. Maybe you 508 00:34:15.599 --> 00:34:19.920 were cooking dinner and taking notes at the same time, or running and just 509 00:34:19.960 --> 00:34:22.920 getting I always listen to podcasts while I'm running and I think about him like 510 00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:25.840 I need a jot that down, so I'm sure there's some that pulled up. 511 00:34:25.880 --> 00:34:30.159 That's when you stop the treadmill. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, US 512 00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:31.679 stop the TREADMILL, jump up with your feet on the sides and write on 513 00:34:31.719 --> 00:34:35.199 your notes, thaying real quick and then try to jump back on. Yeah, 514 00:34:35.280 --> 00:34:37.920 that's hopefully you don't fall down in the gym, guys. Well, 515 00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:42.159 thank you so much, my for being here with us on B tob growth 516 00:34:42.199 --> 00:34:45.880 today. Tell us a little bit about where people can stay connected to you 517 00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:47.400 and the work that act on is doing. Oh my goodness. Well, 518 00:34:47.400 --> 00:34:52.159 first you guys can go to act oncom and see what we're doing with those 519 00:34:52.199 --> 00:34:55.400 industry pages and how that develops. Sign up to get some of our e 520 00:34:55.519 --> 00:34:59.159 books if you want to. If I'm doing my job right, you should 521 00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:01.280 be very, you know, pleased and have things that are easy to find 522 00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:05.719 that are interesting to you. And then me personally, I'm on Linkedin. 523 00:35:05.880 --> 00:35:09.199 I'm Maya Morgan Wells, so search me up and if you want another podcast 524 00:35:09.239 --> 00:35:15.159 to listen to, go look for the marketing hero podcast over on Apple Podcast, 525 00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:19.239 spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, again, Maya, 526 00:35:19.400 --> 00:35:23.079 thank you for being here for our listeners. If you have yet to subscribe 527 00:35:23.119 --> 00:35:27.480 to be to be growth, be sure to do that or whatever podcast platform 528 00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:32.800 you're listening to this on. And we're so glad to have had my here 529 00:35:32.920 --> 00:35:37.119 with us today. Thanks for being here. You're welcome. Is My pleasure 530 00:35:49.800 --> 00:35:52.800 we're always excited to have conversations with leaders on the front lines of marketing. 531 00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:57.800 If there's a marketing director or a chief marketing officer that you think we need 532 00:35:57.880 --> 00:36:00.760 to have on the show, reach out email me, Beng dot block at 533 00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:05.199 Sweet Fish Mediacom. I look forward to hearing from you.