Posts tagged content marketing
Marketing, Journalism, and Truth as Competitive Advantage
Nov 27th
I had a very interesting question come across my desk from {grow} community member John Bethune:
In the minds of most people, journalism and marketing were once diametrically opposed. Has that changed in the social media era?
A great question! And, in fact, I think the social web has brought these disciplines together in a number of surprising ways.
The ideal of journalism is a quest for truth. Marketing is the quest for a product’s “truth.” By that I mean the best marketers are on a journey to know how their company’s goods and services exist in the hearts and minds of their customers. Then, their job is to express that consumer truth to the best of their ability. So in this way, the disciplines are unexpectedly similar, although the end product is quite different!
But the social web has created an important shift for both disciplines. What does it even mean to be a journalist today? Through blogging and technology like smartphone video cameras, journalism has been democratized. Anybody can report, anybody can publish. Jeff Jarvis of City University of New York recently defined a reporter today as simply somebody who can say, “I was there and you weren’t.”
The democratization of marketing
To a great extent, marketing has been democratized, too. Remember last year when Gap changed their logo and there was such an outcry? I felt empathy for the company because they are probably good marketers who followed a traditional protocol — work with graphic designers, test it, get feedback, and roll. That system has worked for decades and changing a logo is not an easy or flippant decision for a consumer product company to make. I’m sure they had done their homework … or at least they thought so.
But a few vocal people thought the new logo was stupid (perhaps people who were not even customers!). Through Twitter and Facebook, they created an anti-logo movement. and suddenly it became an embarrassing meme. I can imagine the Gap marketers waking up to this one morning and thinking “Wait … what?”
So something as important as an adjustment to your brand image may not even be in the hands of marketers any more. The Gap’s marketing strategy had essentially been crowd-sourced! Like journalism it seems, marketing has also been democratized.
Content as power
The production of content has also been an output of the marketing process, usually in the form of advertisements. But now content is at the very centerpiece of many strategies as companies fight to attract attention on the crowded social web. The journalism schools are full of new applicants. Why? Because content is big business now and the new media channels have an insatiable need for it. Companies need story-tellers as much as marketing graduates.
I have recently been working with the president of one of my B2B customers on a blog and a series of how-to videos to demonstrate their new robotic technologies. I’ll bet five years ago he never would have dreamed he would be in the publishing business!
So this idea of content and storytelling is another way that journalism and marketing have been brought together. For both fields, content that moves virally through the social web represents success and power.
Truth as a strategy
I think expectations of “truth” and transparency is another way the social web have brought journalism and marketing together. For a brand to have integrity and to be successful, it can’t be spinning the truth around any more. There are a million watch dogs out there now and any one of them can sniff out a fake.
A few weeks ago, I was working with some marketers for a hotel chain and we were discussing negative hotel reviews. “We don’t mind them,” they told me. “It makes us more real.”
Interesting. Truth as a marketing strategy.
My hunch is that a few years ago, that is not necessarily what their reaction would have been. In marketing, truth is the new black.
Maybe journalism and marketing are getting closer than we thought? What do you think?
Note: John Bethune’s full interview with me can be found here: “Content is Power: A Q&A with Mark W. Schaefer.”
How do you make your content go viral — offline?
Oct 25th
You’re probably stressed.
It’s likely that you (and your customer contacts) are doing the job that used to be done by three people. The information density of our world is overwhelming. Budgets and resources have been slashed.
It seems that everything is working against our ability to connect with customers and share information that could influence a purchasing decision and close a deal!
On the Internet side of the business, a new model for personal power and influence has emerged. Enabled by widespread access to high-speed Internet and free publishing tools like blogging and Facebook, a new generation of influencers has emerged who have created a niche by being able to create compelling content and move it through an engaged network.
So now I want to take this idea a step further and push this thinking a new way. If you have been immersed in the social web for awhile, this idea of influence probably makes sense. But how do we apply this same model to the OFFLINE world?
How do we establish power and influence by creating compelling content and moving it through a HUMAN network instead of a digital one?
For example, success in sales often depends on your ability to tell the story of your company and the benefits of your product. But that task is more difficult than ever. The competition is fierce, and your procurement contacts have less and less time to learn about what you do … let alone understand it.
So how can we use Web 2.0 communication tools to break through the clutter and move our marketing message virally through Procurement, through corporate gatekeepers, and into the hearts and minds of executive decision-makers?
Here are a few lessons from moving content online that might help move it offline too:
Infographics – While we might be weary of infographics, wouldn’t that be an interesting way to cut through the clutter with a busy purchasing manager? Instead of giving them a glossy brochure or power point presentation, why not a one-page, cleverly-designed picture of your business?
Aggregate content – When I interview customers during my market research activities, I always ask them what they hate about their jobs. I look for activities that my client might be able to take on for them to make them indispensable. The answer usually leads back to something about stress and a lack of time to get things done. How can you use Web 2.0 utilities to help customers solve problems and save time? Can you aggregate industry content in a helpful way so that a message from your company cuts through the clutter once a week?
Make ‘em say wow – Let’s face it. Most company corporate communications are bland. They’re little more than glossy, buzz-laden press releases. Yet the communications that really stand out and get shared ENTERTAIN people! Do you remember the day last year when the Google logo was a little PacMan game? If you saw it, I’ll bet you remember it, played it, and probably shared it. It was a little thing that helped them stand out and make people go “wow!” If you have ever seen an example of a corporate marketing communications that makes you go “wow” I’d like to see it. Rare exceptions … but why?
Visual selling — I don’t know what you call this technique, but many magazines are now doing lists where you can feature the “top 10 of something” by flipping through a picture or graphic and a small amount of text. An example from Inc. is here. This is an effective communincation format when you want to summarize the highlights, yet I have never seen it used out side of this magazine format. Sort of a Flipbook/infographic combination.
I don’t have all the answers, but what do you think about the idea? How can we apply online marketing principles and best practices to the offline world to get to decision makers?
The Seven Elements of Smart Content
Jun 22nd
By Robert Dempsey, Contributing {grow} Columnist
Despite the huge growth of eCommerce, most business is done by people, with people and for people … and is therefore built on relationships. You have relatively few options when it comes to building a relationship with new customers:
- Meet them in person
- Meet them over the phone
- Meet them online using proactive contact on social media
- Provide helpful, informative and entertaining content that will bring them to YOU
The first 3 out of 4 items on that list are scalable only by adding people to your team, requires constant personal attention, and are time-intensive.
Now here’s a question for you: how many people can you talk with on the phone in a given day? If a phone call with a potential customer takes one hour, at most you could do perhaps 8 calls a day if you break for lunch and do nothing else. So you can start to form relationships with 8 people a day.
Option four seems like a really good idea, doesn’t it? That’s called inbound marketing. A single blog post, for example, has the potential to reach hundreds, thousands and beyond. And what’s even better, you don’t have to be the one doing all of that sharing.
The bottom line is that inbound marketing through smart content allows you to build relationships with more people than ever before possible. It allows you to possibly connect with people around the world that were unavailable by any other means. And it works to build those relationships for you 24×7 – without adding people. That my friend is awesome.
So what is this “smart content?” A blog post is just a blog post, but smart content can take many forms as long it is a targeted, mindful attempt to connect with the needs and wants of high potential customers.
I think smart content must cover seven different bases to be effective. Let’s see if you agree …
- It must be created for your ideal customer and use their language
- It should be helpful, informative, entertaining, or some combination
- It must be created on a consistent basis
- It should be able to be spread quickly and easily via sharing and syndication
- Every piece of content should be linked to at least one of your products and services
- Direct marketing 101 - always include a call to action
- It must be measurable and produce a return on investment
Well, that’s a lot isn’t it? But it takes a lot to cut through the clutter these days and it’s probably going to be worth it for your sales effort. Do you agree?
Robert Dempsey is the Itinerant Entrepreneur. He combines technology, psychology, and marketing to help his clients build their empires using strategic marketing. You can find him at http://BuildMeAnEmpire.com
Content marketing is not enough — The fulfillment gap
Jun 14th
Community Week Post by Natasha Gabriel
Sigh … yes … BIG sigh.
I have had quite an interesting experience with a vendor — [note I am being generous by using the adjective interesting]. Despite the fact that we live in this hyper-service economy, this FAIL made pause and realize how far we have to go as marketers! An article from the Temkin Group indicated that “the engagement phase is a critical phase in the customer lifecycle that very often gets missed.” I’m inclined to agree. Here is what happened:
A few weeks ago I called XYZ Corporation to see if their service offerings could meet my needs. Their content marketing effort had hooked me with precision — I was an “inbound lead” and had already received a lot of good information from their website, newsletter and podcast that had turned me into a hot sales lead — and now I needed to make that personal call.
The sales representative was knowledgeable and even suggested an additional product as part of the package. I bought into the up-selll — good for him! For about two weeks we went back and forth on details as I had a lot of questions and needed to pull other individuals into the decision process. And most important, we needed a specific product change which he assured us was very simple and would be done promptly. Assured that we were getting an excellent deal we signed the contract. This seemed like a the perfect, seamless marketing and sales effort. But then nothing happened. There was silence: crickets, crickets, crickets…
The ultimate sales FAIL
“What you do to get me, you need to do to keep me,” is that too much to ask? I had to chase these people down to find out when our solution would be complete and the go live date. They were completely unresponsive. To add insult to injury, we were told that the changes we were promised would not happen, as service was pushing back on sales. Huh?
Unfortunately many buyers have this same experience. Too many companies focus on the on the point of sale as the key milestone, doing everything they can to close a sale. This is a flawed mindset. Instead of just trying to get money from customers, companies need to focus on getting customers satisfied with their purchase. A big part of this is the disconnect between sales and fulfillment. Account information and key sales notes stay with the sales representative. Many times too, sales representatives make decisions and promises with limited or incomplete information.
Unfortunately our account information had not traveled from sales to fulfillment. Development informed Mr. Salesman that the change he thought was so easy, now involved more moving pieces and he would have to renege on his deal! Why did he not have this information before we signed the contract? It’s not enough for sales and customer service agents to provide the right information at the the right steps in the sales process — they also need to have quick access to knowledge experts to RESPOND to those pesky curve balls that customers like myself come up with.
Damage control is costly
Once an experience is damaged “It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience” and all the work the sales team placed in winning the account is lost. Mr. Salesman offered me an additional discount, and even as a last resort offered it to me FREE! Can you see how a great content marketing achievement without excellent fulfillment is actually COSTING them money! Regrettably, “free” without the requested changes still does nothing for me.
I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the entire experience as I wait, hoping for a resolution. How are you connecting content marketing to the fulfillment process to make sure something like this never happens to your customers?
Natasha Gabriel was probably one of the first 10 readers of {grow} and is a professional marketer with an unmatched energy, initiative & tenacity balanced with creativity and attention to detail.
Welcome to {grow}
You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow.
Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
Groups We Believe In
