CREATING COMPELLING CONTENT · CONTENT MATTERS CREATING COMPELLING CONTENT! To lessen risk by...

CREATING COMPELLING CONTENT

30th November, 2016

Noel Hillmann, Managing Director

CREATING COMPELLING CONTENT

ABOUTCLEAR PATH ANALYSIS• Specialise in content marketing for institutional financial services

• Offices in London, UK, and San Francisco, USA

• Staff backgrounds ranging from conferences to trade media, radio and pure content writing

• Key industry areas focussed on are:

- Institutional Asset Allocation and Investment Strategy

- Fund and Asset Managers Operations

- Insurance Risk and Operations

- Treasury and Cash Management

OUR CLIENTS & CONTRIBUTORS

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SPONSORSHIP PROSPECTUS

OUR SUBSCRIBERS

UK & EUROPEOver 33,000 individual subscribers r e p r e s e n t i n g pension plans and other institutional asset owners, fund managers andinsurance groups, plus corporate finance and treasury professionals

ASIA PACIFICAnd currently 13,000 individuals andgrowing in Asia-Pacific

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USA & CANANDAA further 26,000 individual past subscribers in the U.S. and Canada,from the same key sectors as the UK and western Europe

DELIVERED VIA OUR INTERACTIVE WEBSITE

Utilising our understanding of how people search for and consume content, we’ve developed a website that allows them to identify information that best fits their need.

With a primary focus on simplicity of layout, we can offer a lot of choice but to the user they need only see a selection of information that is relevant to them.

CREATING COMPELLING CONTENT

• Of a survey of 50 individuals responsible for marketing communications, 44% evaluated their past attempts as 5 out of 10 or lower

• Asked why:• 30% stated reasons linked to experience of writing or producing content in-house

• 38% highlighted a lack of time to plan and execute a whole strategy

• 56% had concerns that follow-on sales action OR marketing activity wouldn’t / couldn’t happen

• 76% said they weren’t sure what the audience wanted

CHALLENGE FOR CONTENT PROVIDERS

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WHY DOES CONTENT MATTER –THE PAYOFFS AND THE RISKS

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The Pay-Offs

When done well…

• Helps you to stand out from competitors

• Is an opportunity to show an association with an idea that’s got your clients attention already

• To create emotions: empathy, anger, aspiration, that can be turned into commercial opportunities

• When mass distributed you can influence many with a single effort

• A good piece of content enables you to get ‘permission’ to have a more direct conversation about individual needs

The Risks

When done badly…

• Create confusion as to your focus, value to clients, benefits of offering and other market positioning factors

• Content creation comes with a cost – the time it takes to create and ‘opportunity cost’

• You can’t judge a readers reaction so you can’t correct misunderstandings

• You can isolate yourselves in the wilderness of irrelevance

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User Perspective on Content Marketing– the survey

SURVEY RESPONDENTS

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Representatives of pension plans in a

pension manager or trustee role

37%

Representatives of investment groups in

operations, technology or data roles

28%

Representatives of insurers in investment

roles

21%

Finance directors, treasurers or corporate

finance professionals

14%

WHAT DO YOU VALUE CONTENT FOR

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18%

9%

25%

48%

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Other specific organisation reason

To support a buying or investment decision about to be made

To learn about new concepts or solution don't know about

To understand the thoughts of the wider industry and stay up to date on an issue / solution already

know something about

VIEWS ON WHY CONTENT MATTERS

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ü To lessen risk by understanding the challenges and solutions

ü To identify specific issues that require attention

ü To keep up to date with what others are thinking/doing

ü To understand the events, opportunities and threats shaping a particular industry

ü To put matters into perspective

ü To learn about a topic in a non academic way

To challenge my internal argument!

PERCENTAGE THAT REMEMBER GOOD CONTENT

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31%

69%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Yes No

THOUGHTS ON GOOD CONTENT

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ü Had a strong and clear position that could take action from

ü The issue was very current

ü Simplicity of the content

ü It was an alternative take on a well-written about subject

ü Provided a comprehensive overview of the solutions proposed

ü Insightful, well structured and concise

ü Knew the author wasn't looking to sell a solution off the back of what was written

AND THE NOT SO GOOD…

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“I can't remember good content. It’s blurred between the majority of disappointing time

wasters offering generally uninformative, buzzword waffle which leaves you angry you wasted your time reading them,... and then

someone is trying to engage off the back of it!!”

WHAT DO CONSUMERS DO WITH GOOD CONTENT

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43%

20% 17%

5%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Save if it's likely to relate to a future initiative

Review once and discard or forward on if necessary

Save only if the content relates to a current challenge/initiative

Read once and rarely forward on but consider for

own use

BALANCING TEXT, DESIGN AND IMAGES

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Paper 2 – Part text, part imagesPaper 1 – Pure textPaper 3 – One-third text,

one-third images

IMPACT UPON THE READER

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No - 68%

Yes - 32%

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Yes No

GOOD CONTENT, EXAMPLE 1 –UBS Wealth Management

ü Linked views to a topic of relevance, in an alternate way

ü Addressed what the audience wanted to read about

ü Was engaging and imaginative

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GOOD CONTENT, EXAMPLE 2 –MOHAMED EL-ERIAN, ALLIANZ

ü Succinct and kept the content short – highly suitable approach as writes frequently

ü Writes like a columnist and not like an analyst

ü Mixes the subject matter

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GOOD CONTENT, EXAMPLE 3 –GILLIAN TETT, FINANCIAL TIMES

ü Paints a picture through words

ü Takes difficult to understand concepts through relating to real world examples

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CONCLUSION AND TAKE-AWAYS

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+ Avoid disguised marketing (but don’t be afraid to refer to your experiences)

ü Lay out a convincing argument clearly

ü Take complicated topics and make them easy to read

ü Give additional insight into the subject

ü Proactively offer a different perspective, even if it’s not your preferred one

QUESTION TIMEWith:Noel Hillmann, Managing Director, Clear Path Analysis

Tel: 0207 688 8511E-mail: noelhillmann@clearpathanalysis.com