Connections Blog

Content is not the new black

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Category: Connections Blog

Thursday, 08 November 2012 09:32

Written by Nasheen Liu

It seems to me that the word “content” is the darling of all things marketing in 2012. Content marketing is recommended as a best practice by an endless array of marketing experts and industry bloggers. Social media channels are flooded with opinions about why content is so important and how to develop a sound content marketing strategy. In particular, I noticed that my Twitter feed is abuzz with content tweets and links to a sea of articles. After spending many hours reading through these words of wisdom, I have the following advice for budding authors: When you write an article about content, please ensure you deliver good content.

By nature, many of us like to look at trends. Some people are trend-setters and other people are trend-followers. Just like Acai berry was regarded as the #1 super food in 2011 and quinoa took over the crown in 2012, in marketing, content seems to be the new black.

At the CMA’s Marketing Influence in Canada conference on October 3, 2012, Ipsos Reid presented their survey findings suggesting that Canadian companies are allocating more budgets towards content development in search marketing. According to the 2012 Marketing Sherpa Lead Generation Benchmark Report, 54% of marketers use content marketing as a lead generation tactic. Forbes recently declared that content marketing is the #1 driver of leads for B2B marketers.

All very exciting stuff indeed; however, I am not sure what to make of those pronouncements. Personally, I find the phrase “content marketing” rather amusing. Can anyone really market anything effectively without good content or content strategies? I believe not. In fact, content has always been and will always be the very foundation of marketing 101. 

So what does content marketing mean exactly? In my view, it means to mindfully create and share valuable messaging that attracts a consistent readership, influences mindshare, and accelerates buying decisions in a non-sales way. Content drives traffic. Traffic creates interest. Interest breeds conversion. This seems like perfect logic to me. So why do so many marketers pull their hair out when the word “content” gets brought up? I attribute this to a lack of confidence.

Over the years, I have worked with many individuals whom I would consider to be top-notch marketers. I’ve had discussions with dozens of them about this very topic. The consensus is that when it comes to content, we are often told by our stakeholders that we are not doing a great job. In the technology industry, marketing can feel like a sandwich – we get stuck in the middle of product management and sales. The former owns the products and the latter owns the customers. When it comes to messaging and content creation, marketing tries to translate features and capabilities into benefits and solutions. Product management is concerned that we don’t know enough details about their products, and sales is equally concerned that marketing will create something that doesn’t resonate with their customers. 

The social media explosion over the last few years has helped to address these concerns. Marketing can now leverage channels that reduce the internal dependencies between product management and sales. We can test-drive content and build online communities. We can provide valuable insights back to sales and product management. We feel more in the zone, but we still have trouble believing that we can master a sound content marketing strategy. We are also challenged with meeting the constant demand for supplying consistently compelling content. 

Fortunately, there is no shortage of advice out there to help you tackle these challenges. One of the best resources I came across was Copyblogger’s content marketing section that offers a free 53-installment content marketing course. I recommend that you allocate a few hours to go through the material. It will be time well spent.

Now let’s address the topic of “confidence”. In my experience, the lack of confidence to create compelling content often stems from two things: marketers don’t believe they are subject matter experts; and they feel that they are too removed from their audience. Over the years, I have shared some of my tactics to overcome these challenges with my peers. I repeatedly use three strategies to create and repurpose compelling content:

Strategy#1: Be an avid journalist to your internal audience

When you go to an event, make sure you participate in it. Marketing is not about setting up logistics and swiping the name badges. You should sit in the sessions and take plenty of notes. Your notes should include insights from customers that can be summarized in a valuable report and communicated to your stakeholders. The notes can be repurposed as “Industry Newsflashes”, “Customer Insights” and “Opportunity Analysis” for your internal audiences. Develop a content cadence for every event. This will grow your internal visibility and readership. Marketers often fail to realize that their most important audience is the internal one. To market anything successfully, one must first and foremost create as much visibility as possible internally. Every employee is your message carrier. You will not become a rock star marketer if you don’t have the support of your internal stakeholders.

Strategy#2: In-source your content, but control the output

Identify your domain experts and create an editorial calendar. I prefer to identify at least one person in each cross-functional area who I can leverage as my go-to-person. That person typically is a knowledge expert and easy to talk to. Please keep in mind that these people will be busy. If you leave the ball in their court to write something, you should expect that the content will be delivered late. Instead, I set some time with them and interview them in person. This way, I get all the content extracted from them in a matter of 30 minutes or less. Afterwards, I’m the one who has to commit to my own timeline to turn these nuggets into crunchy goodness. If you apply this approach every quarter, you will have a healthy and fresh supply of content. As a bonus, you are also promoting your experts and giving them much deserved visibility. This will gain you even more loyal sponsors and support for your next “ask”.

Strategy#3: Out-source your topics to industry experts

I often say that marketing is all about perception. Companies want to be perceived as thought leaders in their respective field; however, constantly singing your own praises can put people off. One tactic that I have used successfully is to get someone else to do the praising in an indirect way. I select that “someone” very carefully. In the technology space, I engage industry experts, media personalities and well-known bloggers. The kind of perception you are trying to create is: “Wow, these guys are associated with her? Impressive”. To be more effective, I try to stay away from one off engagements. I prefer to design a 3-6 month long campaign and leverage my expert for a number of activities. For instance, an initial article can turn into a moderated customer forum. The findings from the forum become a whitepaper. The whitepaper can be used to develop a video case study. These linkages can continue to develop and mature over the life of the campaign.

In summary, if you can execute these three strategies consistently and effectively, you will not only do your job with ease; you will also be in the top 5% amongst your peers. More importantly, you will have confidence in your own abilities. Content is the bread and butter of what we do in the world of marketing. It is neither a mystery nor the new black.

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