IT’S NOT SEXY, BUT IT’S ESSENTIAL: 6 REASONS TO GET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER

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OVERVIEW TRUEISMS

Statements that brands actively strive for, or that our customers

demand from us:

> We’re all publishers now

> Multichannel is where it’s at

> Quality content is essential

> Mobile – it’s the future (again)

> Local = more relevant

> We all love a great story

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OVERVIEW TRUEISMS AND CONTENT

> Do we agree?

> Can a brand stay present and relevant let alone innovate?

> Content is the ideal lever to help make the internal changes

needed to meet the challenges set by these truisms.

> I’ll address each truism and break down how you can get your

house in order to help make them a reality for your brand.

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TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

Context

> Spawned new disciplines

> Content Lab

> eBooks

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WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

5 http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2011/12/2012-b2b-content-marketing-research/

TRUEISM 1.

> Content Marketing Institute’s 2011 survey

> 1000+ people who market using content

> International, but heavily weighted to U.S.

WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

6 http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2011/12/2012-b2b-content-marketing-research/

TRUEISM 1.

> Differences year on year

TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

7 http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2011/12/2012-b2b-content-marketing-research/

> Predicted spend in 2012

TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

Other interesting findings

> Those who felt that their content marketing efforts were successful

differed from those who don’t in three key ways:

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TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

Other interesting findings

> Those who felt that their content marketing efforts were successful

differed from those who don’t in three key ways:

1. They allocate more budget (31% of budget vs. 18%).

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TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

Other interesting findings

> Those who felt that their content marketing efforts were successful

differed from those who don’t in three key ways:

1. They allocate more budget (31% of budget vs. 18%).

2. They consider their customer’s stage in buying cycle and

tailor content to suit

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TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

Other interesting findings

> Those who felt that their content marketing efforts were successful

differed from those who don’t in three key ways:

1. They allocate more budget (31% of budget vs. 18%).

2. They consider their customer’s stage in buying cycle and

tailor content to suit

3. They benefit from substantially more buy in from senior

members of the organisation.

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TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

> But does is take to produce content - really well?

> Follow the process editors and content strategists have always

used:

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Develop strategy

Plan

Create Publish

Analyse

TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

Editorial cycle for a brand:

> Requires everyone who produces content to be:

– Consist

– Coordinated

– Strategic

> It needs those focused on users’ ongoing journey too:

– SEO

– Customers services

– Brand

– PR

– CRM/eCRM

– Product

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TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

Transparency

> Transparency is increasingly expected – it’s a marker of trust.

Publishers have that trust already, brands have to earn it.

Solution

> Be open and transparent through your content. Show personality

and voice, highs and lows, failings and successes.

> It’ll show you’re genuine, and in the long run, build trust

14 http://www.slideshare.net/PewInternet/citizen-20-12618601

TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

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Solution

In a nutshell…

TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

Reality check

> To be a publisher, act like a publisher

> Strong content ownership

> Organisational change

> Relationship building

Results

> Better return on your efforts (efficiencies)

> Maximum benefit from budgets

> Finding new, better ways of working

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TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

So who does this well?

> Red Bull

– Bold

– Confident

– Creates brand associations

– Addresses truisms head on

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TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

So who does this well?

> Boden

– Bold – they walk the talk

– Community from scratch

– Clearly value customers

– Give them value in return

– They’ve committed to it

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TRUEISM 1. WE’RE ALL PUBLISHERS NOW

So who does this well?

> Boden

– Bold – they walk the talk

– Community from scratch

– Clearly value customers

– Give them value in return

– They’ve committed to it

– They have engagement

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TRUEISM 2. MULTICHANNEL IS WHERE IT’S AT

Context

> If previous section focuses on the “what” and the “who”, this is the

“where”.

> Challenges

– Who manages what?

– What content are you producing and where?

– Lack of internal systems that support a joined up approach

> See it simply as your brand’s cost of entry into being a publisher.

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TRUEISM 2. MULTICHANNEL IS WHERE IT’S AT…BUT…

21 Photo from zimpenfish

> But aligning channels can be

like creating a big marble run.

> You never know whether things

will turn out as you anticipate

TRUEISM 2a. MULTICHANNEL CONVERGENCE IS WHERE IT’S AT

Solution

> A single, robust foundation that defines how your brand thinks

about its customers, messaging and content

> This will pave the way for consistent brand experiences

22 Source: Ron Rogowski’s The Unified Customer Experience Imperative, Forrester

TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Context

> Those of us passionate about content have always known that it:

– Is a valuable brand asset

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TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Context

> Those of us passionate about content have always known that it:

– Is a valuable brand asset

– Gives you permission to directly communicate with your

customers

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TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Context

> Those of us passionate about content have always known that it:

– Is a valuable brand asset

– Gives you permission to directly communicate with your

customers

– Unlocks access to the conversations most pertinent to your

brand across digital channels (provided you put your customers

first)

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TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Context

> Those of us passionate about content have always known that it:

– Is a valuable brand asset

– Gives you permission to directly communicate with your

customers

– Unlocks access to the conversations most pertinent to your

brand across digital channels (provided you put your customers

first)

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TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Content farms

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You’re welcome

Photo from Kevin Dooley

Context

> And more recently, SEO is in on the action with Google measuring

‘quality content’

> So how do you balance quality content for a brand, for customers

and for Google?

TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

28 Tom Critchlow, Distilled

Solution

> Think, plan and invest only in content that delivers results.

TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Solution

> Salon’s recessionary publishing dilemma.

29 Source: http://open.salon.com/blog/kerry_lauerman/2012/02/03/hit_record

TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Solution

> According to Kerry Lauerman, they changed their approach by:

– Spending more time on stories that would have greater impact.

30 Source: http://open.salon.com/blog/kerry_lauerman/2012/02/03/hit_record

TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Solution

> According to Kerry Lauerman, they changed their approach by:

– Spending more time on stories that would have greater impact.

– Published less of the content you can get elsewhere.

31 Source: http://open.salon.com/blog/kerry_lauerman/2012/02/03/hit_record

TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Solution

> According to Kerry Lauerman, they changed their approach by:

– Spending more time on stories that would have greater impact.

– Published less of the content you can get elsewhere.

– Tightened their content strategy: focus on originality

32 Source: http://open.salon.com/blog/kerry_lauerman/2012/02/03/hit_record

TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Solution

> According to Kerry Lauerman, they changed their approach by:

– Spending more time on stories that would have greater impact.

– Published less of the content you can get elsewhere.

– Tightened their content strategy: focus on originality

– Published roughly one-third fewer posts on Salon than they

had the previous year.

33 Source: http://open.salon.com/blog/kerry_lauerman/2012/02/03/hit_record

TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Solution

> Result:

– In December 2011 and January 2012, they published 33%

fewer posts but saw a 40% increase in traffic year on year

34 Source: http://open.salon.com/blog/kerry_lauerman/2012/02/03/hit_record

TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Solution

> Creating great content

sometimes means simply

making more of what you have.

> New York Times used Tumblr

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TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Solution

> M&S Lingerie timeline 1920-

present

> Published on the M&S Stories

website

> Sharable, and embedded on

third party sites

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TRUEISM 3. QUALITY CONTENT IS ESSENTIAL

Solution

> In a nutshell: put your customer first, create great content that

they need or want, and the rest will follow.

> What’s the rest?

– SEO rankings

– brand awareness

– trust

– loyalty

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TRUEISM 4. MOBILE – IT’S THE FUTURE

Context

> Many of you in this room know the context better than I do but

there are a few stats that are particularly related to content.

– One in 20 sales are lost (according to Internet Retailing, April 2012)

– Bounce rates 10% higher (according to Internet Retailing, April 2012)

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TRUEISM 4. MOBILE – IT’S THE FUTURE

Context

> The Economist’s Lean Forward 2.0 initiative

39 http://www.slideshare.net/emmaturner/lean-back-media-the-shock-of-the-old

TRUEISM 4. MOBILE – IT’S THE FUTURE

Context

> The Economist findings:

– 49 minutes

– 2 hours

– browsing

– reading

> NPR’s COPE (create once, publish everywhere)

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TRUEISM 4. MOBILE – IT’S THE FUTURE

41 From: http://www.slideshare.net/zachbrand/npr-api-create-once-publish-everywhere

TRUEISM 4. MOBILE – IT’S THE FUTURE

Solution

> Plan for and create content that’s platform agnostic

> Publish flexibly, stay close to the data then watch and learn, as the

Economist did

> Turn content into data by chunking it for different purposes, giving

it structure, tags and metadata

> Doing this will set your content free, so it can easily travel

wherever your customers want it this year, and next

> Partners in responsive content design

– SEO

– UX and design

– Technology

42 Read more about COPE here: http://blog.programmableweb.com/2009/10/13/cope-

create-once-publish-everywhere/

TRUEISM 5. GROWING HUNGER FOR LOCAL INFO

Context

> Pew Research Center shows

increase in demand

43 http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Location-based-services/Summary-

of-findings.aspx

TRUEISM 5. GROWING HUNGER FOR LOCAL INFO

Solution

> Test, manage and exploit every angle of local information for and

about your brand, including:

– Facebook Places, Foursquare and Gowalla

– Yelp, Qype

– Local offers, such as VoucherCloud

– Ensure Google Maps displays correct and up to date

information about your brand

> Develop content and distribute it locally if relevant to your brand

> Build and strengthen partnerships that will facilitate this

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TRUEISM 6. WE ALL LOVE A GREAT STORY

Context

> “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be

forgotten.” Rudyard Kipling

> Horrible Histories

> Mr Parr’s science songs

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TRUEISM 6. WE ALL LOVE A GREAT STORY

> Context

Andrew Stanton, Pixar writer-director (until 2:39)

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TRUEISM 6. WE ALL LOVE A GREAT STORY

> Solution

> So how can brands make people care?

– Know your customers – truly

– Commit to serving them – their needs and desires

– Look for stories everywhere

– Share them in lots of different ways

– What’s the KPI for trust?

• Define it

• Measure it

> The payoff will be huge

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