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The Big 4 Content Marketing Best Practices

Insource…outsource…a blended approach?  Senior marketers often debate how to most effectively staff and resource a content program.

The most high impact campaigns we have been a part of at Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) have been led by corporate and field marketers, with third-party vendors tasked with creation, promotion, distribution and analytics support.

In addition to the ability to ramp up tactical execution, marketing consultants and vendors bring best practices that allow a corporate team to sharpen its approach.  Here are four recent examples of how marketers like you have elevated impact:

  1. Give them a reason to read!  Exclusive interviews with an industry thought leader build community.  Here is an example from Today’s Modern Educator and Learning Without Tears:   Dr. Margo Isabel, Head of Lower School discusses how to create a culture of lifelong learning.
  2. Timeliness, impact and conflict are attributes that make content newsworthy.  So does human interest.  NetApp publishes about a technologist who also “rocks out” as a member of a band called the Petabytes.
  3. Sourcing content from a partner’s blog allows a company to present a comprehensive view of an issue or trend.  The marketers at Comstor provide an example in the EDGE 360 campaign.  Check out how Cisco is sourced.
  4. Align your company’s content marketing with its presence at an industry conference for relevance and timeliness.  Rockwell Collins shows us how with its Modern Military Training campaign:  Q&A with Dr. Benjamin Bell, Conference Chair, MODSIM World 2018.

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Secret to Great Marketing Work? Hint: It’s the Relationships

Enthusiasm and unbridled potential soaked the room.  One person gushed about his idea.  Another had just launched.  What trait did these entrepreneurs share?  They were all in high school. 

Last week I had the privilege of speaking with students studying economics at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, Maryland.  The talk topic was entrepreneurship, and how to create and sustain a business.

After my story of Strategic Communications Group (Strategic), the students peppered me about customer service, financing, recruitment and promotion.  Then, I got hit with the whopper question:  what is the one thing I have learned in 20+ years running a business that every entrepreneur should know?

I cheated and gave the students two: 1) great work; for (and with) great people.

Let’s start with the second – great people.  My relationship with the senior team at Strategic runs deep.  It extends more than a decade.  This is no echo chamber though.  We have different personalities, beliefs and experiences, which allow for the cultivation of ideas.

It is a similar vibe with clients.  Not all, of course.  Some stroll in and out like the passing of a season.  With others you achieve a mutual respect and professional admiration that carries on.  That is the foundation of great work.

Here is an example.  This month Strategic launched a new online buyer community in partnership with Learning Without Tears called Today’s Modern Educator.  This initiative is our third collaboration in the past 12 years with Barbara Bernard.

In fact, the concept and maturation of the online buyer community resulted from our work with marketers like Rita Walston, Keith Hodson, Lisa Sherwin Wulf and others.  In essence, it is the foundational relationship with clients that guide a business.

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Greek Philosopher & the Listen-less Marketer

Ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus was quick with a quote.  Most relevant for marketers was his revelation we have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

Let’s acknowledge we may need to work on the listening.  Most organizations allocate the vast majority of their sales and marketing spend on “talking” tactics.  We host events.  We broadcast Webinars.  We fire out Email.  We distribute content.

Greek philosopher Epictetus

The hope is all of this noise will inspire a prospect somewhere to express a morsel of interest.  Wham!  We up the lead score and kick the contact over to sales for follow-up (i.e. more talking).

What if we as marketers invested a bit more time listening?  Could we bring measurable value to our organization?  You know, the type of insight that generates business momentum and growth – not merely a name for sales to pounce on.

Here is a story.  Federal Technology Insider has been Strategic Communications Group’s (Strategic) most successful online buyer community.  Each new sponsor brought a fresh perspective on a timely issue which, in turn, helped us attract more readers.

Yet, we noticed something interesting in the analytics.  Readers arrived from state government, local municipalities and educational institutions.  Our strategy was federal, but the market told us to go broader.

We made Epictetus proud.  This month we rebranded the buyer community as Government Technology Insider with an editorial footprint that extends to state/local.  The response has been compelling with a high level of reader interest and engagement.

Our customers, prospects and other key audiences tell us what they think by how they spend their time.  Wade into the analytics from your corporate site, content programs and social media properties.  Do some listening!

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A Brilliant (and Brutal) Sorority Email

What many consider the most deranged sorority Email ever sent is actually brilliant in its brutal candor.

It is April 2013 and an exasperated Rebecca Martinson sits in front of her computer to pen an Email to her sisters in Delta Gamma sorority’s University of Maryland chapter.

She writes, “If you just opened this like I told you to, tie yourself down to whatever chair you’re sitting in, because this email is going to be a rough ?##@@!!! ride.”

The rest of Martinson’s missive is legendary.  You can read the Email in its entirety on Gawker.com here at this link.  (Warning: inappropriate language and content.)

Rebecca Martinson, author of the deranged sorority Email. (Photo source: TMZ.com)

Martinson’s candor lacks maturity, yet her beef with the Delta Gamma sisters is justified.  Their lack of interest in and engagement with the fraternity they had partnered with during Greek Week had created perception issues on campus.

What is the lesson here for marketers?

While a potty mouth is no way to represent yourself or your organization, shock value has impact.  When was the last time your organization offered a controversial opinion?  Made a bold prediction? Or called out a competitor?

Successful entrepreneurs like Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff and Richard Branson have all employed shock for strategic advantage.  It shouldn’t be the foundation of your communications program, but there is a place for it.

So…I am sure you are dying to know whatever became of Rebecca Martinson.  According to Cosmopolitan, she is now an editor for a Web site called BroBible and a published author.

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Have we lost our marketing mojo?

Dark and dystopian…Apple’s 1984 television ad challenged us to think differently.

Marketers have historically been unique for the ability to affect change within a company, its industry segment and in society as a whole.

Apple’s 1984 television ad aired once yet set the company on its path of innovation.  Fast food chain Wendy’s Where’s the beef? shaped a presidential election.  And EDS’ Cat Herders led technologists to acknowledge an uncomfortable reality about enterprise-wide projects.

Have we lost the marketing mojo?  Has the push to analytics-driven programs measurable in all areas led to creative-less marketing?

To use a baseball analogy, we seem to be efficient at swatting singles and doubles, but our campaigns rarely hit a homerun.

Here are three ways to rediscover the magic:

  1. Contribute to the strategy of the business, not just its execution. We call this strategic marketing. It should be the aspiration of every single person in the marketing organization – from corporate to field to product.  Innovative concepts like “she-working” have and can be driven by marketers like us.
  2. Champion a unique and innovative approach. Creative crushing thoughts such as – this is how we did it last year or let’s mimic our competitors – are the domain of followers. Check out campaigns like Modern Military Training and Future Healthcare Today for examples of dynamic approaches to thought leadership.
  3. Demand excellence from your vendors. Who has brought you an exciting, daring and big idea in the past year? Encourage and cultivate those relationships.

 

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