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Winning the war of the words
Ten-and-a-half thoughts about content marketing.
This little collection of thoughts was inspired by a discussion between two of our favorite content marketers,
held at New York’s Soho House in October 2014.
Many thanks to our two speakers that morning: Cristina Ampil, managing director of PwC US’s Thought Leadership Institute; and Laura Fink,
vice president of Global Marketing & Communications at American Express Travel – and to everyone else
who came along and pitched in.
Content marketing surrounds us.
Certainly, the buzz surrounds us.
Research shows that most US companies are creating content marketing.
*According to the Content Marketing Institute, in their recent
‘North America Content Marketing Trends’ reports.
90% of B2C companies*86% of B2B companies*
But most companies don’t see any real value from it.Forrester Research says 85% of B2B marketers don’t feel they get business value from their content marketing.*
*2014 study, ‘Compare Your B2B Content Marketing Maturity’.
‘When I scroll through my news feed, all I see are missed
opportunities to connect. Sometimes I wonder, why did they bother?’
To do it well, you have to know why you’re doing it.
Content
marketing is
not selling.
‘Today you’re looking for people to share; tomorrow
for people to buy.’
B2B.
B2B. B2C.
B2B. B2C.
We’re all working to stay relevant.
Start by having something to say.
What do your customers care about?
If you talk about that, they’ll listen.
Say it when people want to hear it.Many people are tuning out from traditional media.
They’re still paying attention. They’re just doing it on their schedule.
Make it interesting.Nobody wants to be ‘engaged’. But we all want something real.
72% of ‘digital natives’ want brands to entertain them.
Be concise. Your readers are busy.
Respect their time.
Blah blah blah, blah blah. Blah blah.
Blah blah, blah. Blah blah blah. Blah blah, blah blah. Blah. Blah blah.
Blah. Blah blah. Blah, blah blah. Blah, blah blah blah. Blah blah. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Blah.
Blah.
Instead of content marketing, let’s call it conversation marketing.You shouldn’t just be talking at your customers. You need to listen to what they’re saying, and start the dialogue.
To have a conversation, you need to have a voice.
When you write in your own voice, you’ll stand out from the crowd.
How do you make sure it always sounds like you?
1. Know your brand’s personality.
2. Find the voice to match.
3. Define clear guidelines.
Don’t sound like a robot.After all, you’re competing for attention with kittens.
You might your tone for different channels.
But don’t change the things you stand for.
tweak
Fortunately, you can find out what works.
Fortunately, you can find out what works.
And what doesn’t.
Fortunately, you can find out what works.
And what doesn’t.
As long as you’re measuring the right things.
A meaningful conversation with an interesting consumer is easily worth 500 clicks on
a cute video.
Bring your whole posse.
Writers. Graphic artists. Editors. Analytics experts. Web designers.
Use the people around you to make your content
as good as it can be.
What comes next? More.
What comes next? More.
New skills.
New skills. New processes.
What comes next? More.
New skills. New processes. New channels.
What comes next? More.
You stay relevant by connecting to your audience.
You do that by staying authentic.
And you show that by sounding authentic.
Keep it real.
Want a hand shaping your content?Get in touch:
New York
Call us on +1 646 568 3181
London
Call us on +44 (0)20 7940 7540
Everywhere
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