The Digital Marketing Podcast

Episode: The Science of Content Marketing
Hosts: Daniel Rowles & Ciaran Rogers
Date: August 6, 2017

Overview: Main Theme & Purpose

This episode focuses on introducing a structured, scientific approach to content marketing—treating it as a product launch rather than a scattergun publishing exercise. Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers explore why content overload is diluting impact and how marketers can dramatically improve results by slowing down, optimizing, and maximizing every stage of the content lifecycle.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Content Marketing Noise Problem

• The digital landscape is flooded with content, making it harder for brands to stand out.
• Daniel Rowles: "There's at least 50 years of content uploaded to YouTube every day now. So there's just this huge amount of content. Doesn't mean anyone's actually watching it." (01:06)
• Solution: Quality over quantity. Invest in fewer, better pieces of content.

2. Treat Content Like a Product

• Content IS the product, and should be launched and marketed with similar rigour.
• Ciaran Rogers: "Publishers have known...since the invention of the printing press, that actually content is the product. So why wouldn't you apply products, launch and marketing skills to content?" (02:28)
• Apply product launch thinking:
  • Pre-launch
  • Launch
  • Ongoing (post-launch)

3. The Science of Pre-Launch: Ask the Right Questions

• Before publishing, marketers must answer:
  1. Who is the audience? What personas are being targeted?
  2. Where does the content fit in the user journey?
  3. What action is desired after engagement?
  4. How will the audience find the content?
  5. Why would they share it? What value does it provide them?
• If clear answers aren’t available, revisit the content plan. (01:32)

4. Research & Insights: Data-Driven Topic Selection

• Don't rely on intuition—leverage tools to find trends and validate topics:
  • answerthepublic.com: Uncovers the questions people actually ask.
  • Google Keyword Planner & Trends: Identifies keyword demand & search patterns.
  • buzzsumo.com: Reveals most-shared competitor content.
  • Social monitoring tools.
• "Go get some insights...You might use Google Trends, you might use social monitoring tools to work out what people are talking about." (03:27)

5. Planning Outreach & Promotion

• Prepare outreach lists for advocates and influencers before launch.
• Consider giving exclusives/early access to influential advocates.
• Outreach in three stages:
  1. Pre-launch: Prepare your advocates & influencers.
  2. Launch: Execute social, paid, and email campaigns.
  3. Post-launch: Ongoing follow-up and promotion.

6. Launch Best Practices

• Multi-angle, multi-format social media posts; vary timing for maximum exposure.
  • Tool tip: tweriod.com for optimal tweet timing.
• Use paid social to expand reach, single-topic emails for big announcements.
• Promote across your digital "real estate": website, apps, and cross-linking content.
• Seek guest-posting opportunities to drive traffic.
• Include influencer quotes/comments to increase sharing likelihood. (06:50)

7. Ongoing Content Optimization

• Don't "publish and forget." Use analytics to:

  1. See what content performs.
  2. Iterate and do more of what works.
  3. Revamp/refresh historical content rather than always building new.
  4. Repurpose successful content for different verticals/audiences.

• Example: Updating a popular SEO tools comparison twice a year yields ongoing traffic and link-building benefits.

• Daniel Rowles: “We don’t just rewrite it, we just update it twice a year. And actually, that means it’s built more links over the long term.” (09:15)

• Build and maintain a content leaderboard to track top-performing pieces and emulate success (10:30).

8. Tools, Processes, and Metrics

• Use a content calendar to schedule both publication and revisiting/updating old content.
• Standardize image creation with tools like Canva for cross-platform social sharing.
• Set up clear metrics in analytics: measure not just traffic, but conversion and role in customer journey.
• Leverage attribution modeling to understand content’s impact on the broader marketing funnel.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If I can’t answer those questions effectively, I need to go back to the drawing board a little bit.”
  — Daniel Rowles (01:57)

• “The perceived value of content has potentially gone down...more and more terrible content. For a long time, if you wanted to write a book, you had to go to a publisher...Now, suddenly, because you can self-publish, there's no filters.”
  — Daniel Rowles (03:03)

• “We started writing news stories that answer questions very specifically...400-word blog post that explained what [the new social feature] was. They're driving thousands and thousands of visits to our website every month because we're very specifically matching what people are searching for to a blog post, but we're doing it before the traffic even existed.”
  — Daniel Rowles (08:19)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:19 — Episode theme introduced: The science of content marketing.
• 01:06 — Challenge of content overload.
• 01:32 — Essential pre-launch questions to answer.
• 02:28 — Content as a product: parallels with publishing.
• 03:27 — Tools and research for content planning.
• 04:58 — Planning outreach and leveraging advocates/influencers.
• 06:50 — Launch strategy and multi-channel promotion.
• 08:19 — Example: Ultra-specific, fast-turnaround content for SEO wins.
• 09:15 — Updating/refreshing evergreen content.
• 10:30 — Building a content leaderboard.
• 11:27 — Tools & process tips (Canva, calendars, analytics).
• 11:52 — Closing recommendations: Treat content as a product, slow down, and maximize value.

Tone and Language

Friendly, practical, and conversational. Daniel and Ciaran speak directly to digital marketers, using a mixture of examples, tool recommendations, and actionable steps.

Summary Table: Core Takeaways

| Stage | Key Actions | Tools/Techniques | |-----------------------|-----------------------------------|---------------------------------| | Pre-Launch | Ask critical questions, research | answerthepublic, BuzzSumo, etc. | | Launch | Multi-channel promo, outreach | Social, Email, Paid, tweriod | | Ongoing Optimization | Analyze, iterate, refresh, repurpose | Analytics, Content leaderboard, Canva |

For more details, references, and downloadable resources, visit targetinternet.com/podcast.